Summer
by Leaded-Pegasus
Summary: By the time Percy completes his junior year of high school at Goode, he is more than ready for his Summer at Camp Half Blood. But what will make his time there so significant, and possibly, make it is best Summer there yet?
1. Chapter 1

**Alright people, this is a shot at a second story that I'm writing. I'm not good at fluffy romantic stuff yet, but I'm planning to get better at it as I continue to write. If you're looking for lemons-you've come to the wrong place, so far. I might add them in; I'll have to think about it. If you're reading this, please, please review, and check out my other story, The Zombie Wars. I've been working on that one for a while now, but it has no relevance to PJATO.**

**I hope you will like the story, and I will try to update it as much as possible.**

**-iGwyn12 **

**3**

Chapter One: Last Day of High School

Percy groaned in annoyance when his alarm clock went off. His sleepy eyes looked over to the alarm-it read six-thirty in the morning. He groaned again and dragged himself out of bed, and walked to the bathroom. After showering and washing his face, he felt more awake, being a son of Poseidon and all, the water could strengthen him, not to mention, wake him up on a school day.

Percy wrapped a faded blue towel around his waist and turned left, back into his bedroom. It was a pretty simple room; his bed's headrest was pushed against the wall to the far right, by the door. There was a nightstand next to the bed that had a sea-green and blue lava lamp; and his evil alarm clock on it. And then to the left, was a desk, cluttered with papers, trash, pens, and pencils from late nights working on school work. And finally, over on the wall by the window, was a black Ikea dresser his mom had bought him a couple of Christmases back. He pulled back the two top smaller drawers and pulled out a pair of socks and a pair of blue striped boxers. Percy slid the drawers shut, and pulled two more drawers back, and pulled out a green and black striped shirt, and a pair of denim clad skinny jeans.

After he got dressed quickly, put some deodorant on, and slid his converse on, he walked out to the kitchen. He found his mom, making a huge breakfast, as always, "Good morning, Percy, how'd you sleep?" Percy smiled, "Great, mom." She smiled back and stacked two pancakes onto a plate, and poured enough syrup on them to give an elephant a heart attack, "Woah, that's _way_ too much syrup. Believe me; I don't need to give myself a sugar rush on the last day of school." Sally let out a small sigh, "Oh, you're right. I'll just give them to Paul; he likes his with a lot of maple syrup." She left them on the counter, rushed over to Percy and kissed him on the head, "Aw…my little boy's last day of high school." Percy let out a small laugh, "Yeah." She leaned back to look at him, her eyes were misty, she hugged him, "You've gotten so big, how?" She said sarcastically. Sally let go of Percy, and he sat down at the kitchen table. His mom brought him a plate of pancakes, and a bottle of syrup, "There. You can put on as much as you'd like, now." Percy looked over to Sally, "Thanks." She smiled at her son.

Percy gobbled down his pancakes, and looked at his dark blue ICE watch, "I gotta go. Bye mom!" he said, while running into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth, grabbed his backpack, and ran down the apartment building stairs.

Percy speed-walked his way to the underground subway, he ran down the steps, dodging the people coming up the opposite way. He clicked his card into the machine, the barrier doors went green, and he walked down the steps to wait for his train. Percy made it just in time to catch the train, and he could hear the Metro voice, "Doors open, step back to allow customers to exit. When boarding, please move to the center of the car." He stepped into the subway car and gripped onto the subway bar, as it began to speed faster and faster down the tracks. Percy couldn't wait until the school day was over-why? He would go home and pack for camp Half Blood, and spend the summer there. Camp was probably his favorite place, and his favorite person would be there, too. His girlfriend-Annabeth. He sighed at the thought of her; she was his world, the one person who always had his back. The train screeched to a stop, and the automated voice came back on. He stepped out of the car, and began to make his way to the escalator, but something stopped him. He looked over to the graffiti covered tile walls, and there stood Nico, "Hey, Percy. How goes the life?" Percy smirked, "What's up, Nico?" Nico shrugged and shoved his hands into his aviator's jacket, his sheathed sword dangled from his belt. "There's something you need right?" Nico shrugged yet again, and Percy gave Nico a small noogie on his head, but the people passing by looked at Percy in a freaked-out sort of way, "Percy!" Nico said in a hissy whisper, "They can't see me!" Percy's hand went for a face-palm, "Right. Walk with me."

Percy led Nico up to the street level, and Percy looked at his watch again-seven thirty. He needed to be at his desk in a half hour, and when you're in New York, who knows how long it will take to get through the traffic. He had been late more than enough times from traffic getting to school. "So, just tell me what you need, Nico. I need to get to school, or my teacher will be out for my neck." Nico finally spat it out, "I need some cash, and some retail therapy might relieve some stress. Dad won't give me any, 'cause he says I'm not 'responsible' with money." Percy _had_ to agree with Hades on that one, when Nico had his hands on cash, he would go and spend it all on stuff he really didn't need. But Percy was feeling generous today, so he pulled a twenty out of his wallet, "Don't spend it on something stupid, alright?" Nico smirked evilly, "Can't make any promises!" and in a blink of an eye, he had shadow traveled back to the Underworld. Percy rushed through the crowd of people to get to school, and he was walking in just as the tardy bell went off. His teacher, Mr. Mulder squinted at him over his glasses. Mr. Mulder was by far the meanest teacher ever; he looked like a bulldog morphed into a human, with a double chin, piggy eyes, and a balding head. Percy had his back to the teacher to open his desktop, when Mr. Mulder said, "Mister Jackson!" Percy jumped so much that the desk slammed shut, "Would you like to tell me why you're late to class?" He sat down in his trashy desk and put his books under his seat, "My cousin needed my help on something." Mr. Mulder quirked his eyebrow is disbelief, "What exactly did he need your help on?" _What doesn't he need my help on, why don't you tell me that? _Percy thought to himself, sighing as well, "Mister Mulder, I think…instead of nosing around in my business, you should start class." The teacher stuck his nose up, wobbled out of his seat to the whiteboard, and began to instruct class. Percy barely paid attention, if any at all, and drifted off into a daydream, and it was the same thing all day, until he went back home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Packing and a Phone Call

Percy was always starving after school; he never really ate during lunchtime, because he was never hungry. But occasionally he would grab something at a street vendor, and today, he got a soda and some fries to snack on. After he paid the man, he walked down to Central Park and found a bench to take a seat on. Percy couldn't stop thinking about camp and, Annabeth. She had been living in San Francisco and going to school there, but the two of them would Iris message each other almost every night. She had told him a few evenings ago that she would be going to camp for the summer, but a few days into the summer term; she didn't want to miss any assignments at school.

As soon as Percy finished his food, he hailed a taxi to take him home. The traffic wasn't half bad, so he got home quickly, and saw that Paul had beat him home, "Hey Percy." Percy tossed his backpack into his room,

"Hey, what's up Paul?" Paul set down his newspaper.

"Nothing much, your mother's still at work, just to let you know." He nodded at his step dad.

"Okay, thanks." Paul nodded back and went back to reading his paper, and Percy stepped into his bedroom, and intentionally fell face-first onto his bed, and drifted to sleep.

Percy woke up to his mom shaking him by the shoulder, "Perce', dinner's ready, I ordered us a pizza. You can pack after you eat, okay?" She said in a comforting tone, while Percy sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Yeah, okay." Sally walked out of the room, and he dug around his closest for his duffle bag, and set it down on his bed when he found it. Just as he was about to walk out of the room, his cell phone went off, yes his cell phone. There was this special type of casing that demigods put on their phones, it was made from monster-you actually, probably don't want to know. But Percy actually had to go on a quest for the stuff, but it was worth it. The monster-you-don't-want-to-know-what-it's-made-of phone would block off the flare-like signal that attracted monsters. Anyway, Percy picked up his phone and looked at the caller I.D. and it read Calling: Annabeth. Percy gasped with excitement and quickly flipped the cell phone open.

"Hey Percy!" it wasn't the voice he expected, but it sounded vaguely familiar, then he quickly remembered his girlfriend's sneaky little step brothers. He tried to remember their names, what were they like, Bob and Mark, no…oh, right- Bobby and Matthew.

"Hey Bobby, what's up Matt?" He could hear them get quiet and whispering back and forth to each other.

"Percy what are you calling me my step-brother's names? I'm breaking up with you!" Percy could hear them giggling and decided to play along.

"What, why? I just called you that because-"He could faintly hear Annabeth In the background over the laughing of Bobby and Matt,

"Hey? What are you two doing with my phone? Who are you talking to? Give it here." He could hear the giggling fading away and the sound of footsteps going into a more quiet room.

"Hello? Who is this?" She said in a questioning tone.

Percy made a Darth Vader breathing noise, "I am your father." He could hear her mutter to herself,

"What in the gods? Seriously who is this?" Percy smiled and stepped out of his window and put his back onto the railing on the fire escape,

"Hey, Annabeth." Percy said, a grin spreading onto his face.

He could hear his mom shouting at him to come to dinner, so he put his phone over the phone, "I'm on the phone, mom!" He removed his hand, "So how's California?"

Annabeth laughed, "You're not going to ask how _I _am? That's really low of you, Percy." She said sarcastically,

"Fine. How are you doing?"

She giggled, "I'm fine…gods, I can't wait to see you again."

He ran his fingers through his black hair, "Yeah? Me neither. When are you getting into camp?" He didn't get an answer for a while,

"Tonight or tomorrow, sometime, I'm waiting for my plane now." She said, but there was a hint of doubt lingering in her voice.

Percy frowned at her hesitation, "Er, okay, if you say so. There's nothing wrong, is there?" Annabeth was quick to say,

"No, no. Well, I'll see you at camp." Percy could tell she was ready to hang up, but he stopped her, "Hey! I can come pick you up at the airport, how about that? Just call me when you get in, and I'll come get you."

He could tell Annabeth was smiling, "Really? Okay." They both said 'bye' to each other, and hung up.

Percy ducked under the window, back into the apartment, and sat down with his family. Percy inhaled his pizza and soda and put his dishes in the sink, "Thanks, mom!" He ran back into his room,

"Wha-Percy!" He shut his bedroom door, "That boy, I don't know what I'm going to do with him." Sally said, shaking her head.

He tore through his drawers, plopping articles of clothing into the duffle bag. Percy tossed in his camera, sunblock, ray-bans, and a few bottles of nectar. Percy ran out to the living room and grabbed his XBOX controller, Nico was going to force him to play video games one way or another. He also grabbed a few of his own video games, and tossed them into the bag. Two more things he needed, Riptide (which was in his pocket), and his camp necklace. He put the necklace on, and felt like he was where he belonged, Camp Half Blood. That was his true home.

In about a half hour, he was all packed up…he just needed some food to take along with him to snack on in his cabin. He poked his head out the door, "Mom!"

He could hear the pad of his mom's feet exit the kitchen and stop in the hallway, "What, dear?"

He snatched his wallet off his desk, and shoved it into his pocket, "I need to go to the store to get some food, and do you want anything?"

"No thanks, Percy. Just be careful." Sally said, her voice fading a little as she walked back into the kitchen.

Be careful? What could possibly hurt him? He had fought the Minotaur with his bare fists, killed Medusa, took back the Master Bolt, retrieved the Golden Fleece from Polyphemus, and defeated Kronos! He could take on a street gang with his hands tied to his back…blindfolded!

He slid on his Converse and took the stairs down to the streets. After walking a few blocks down from his apartment, he made it to the corner store, which was owned by a shady sort of guy who looked like he belonged in the mob, but since it was New York, it was a possibility that he _was_. Percy grabbed a few bags of chips, pizza rolls, and two twelve pack cans of soda.

_Well…here goes nothing _Percy thought to himself as he carried his snacks to the counter.

The shop owner had his grungy sneakers up on the counter, his face blocked off by his Playboy magazine, but you could see smoke coming from behind the inside of it. The owner lowered his magazine, "Whadayya want?" He shifted his cigar to the side of his mouth so he could speak a little more clearly. His head was a mat of grease, lice and salt and pepper hair. His beady eyes were mushed under furrowed eyebrows, and his teeth looked like they had little yellow sweaters on.

"Ugh." Percy said, "I'm buying all of this."

The man shifted and put his feet down on the floor, "Ya sure? I ain't going to waste my time checking all this stuff out fo' nothin'. Show me the monies, eh?"

Percy rolled his eyes and pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and gave the man two tens, "There. Keep the change." The man's grubby hands grabbed the money and began to smear it across his face like it was a _million _bucks.

"Now get out of here." The man said.

"Aren't you going to pack up my food?" Percy said, raising his eyebrows.

"Nah." There was silence in the store, "Why are you still here?"

This was the last thing Percy wanted to do, but he did it anyway. He uncapped Riptide and he pointed it at the owner. He had it so close to the porker's nose he was going cross eyed.

"Bag up my food…now." Percy hated getting pushed around with characters like this.

The man glowered at Percy, stood up, and shot a grin at Percy. But it wasn't a normal grin, his teeth looked more like fangs and his eyes were darkening into a blood red color, "Well, well…the famous Perseus Jackson. I see your back for another fight, eh?" He abruptly shifted into a massive, spike-tailed, Manticore.

"Doctor Thorn." Percy said as he growled in anger.

Thorn bellowed in laughter, and his huge foot came down on the counter obliterating it, sending glass and cases of tobacco everywhere. Percy shielded his eyes with his forearm, but that hadn't stopped him from getting razor sharp cuts all over the rest of his body. He waited for the Manticore to charge past him, when it did, he lunged for the beast's tail, his primary attack. He stepped on the upper part of it, and tried to hack through the leathery skin, but failed.

"Rrr!" Thorn whirled around, sending Percy flying into an isle in the process. Percy opened his eyes, which were blurred from the forceful strike, and saw the Manticore looming over him, "Heh, heh. This was too easy." Thorn raised his giant foot, like he was going to stomp him.

"Jokes on you, creep." Percy said. Before Thorn could question it, he had a sword up his foot. The Manticore wailed in pain as he dissolved into acid green dust.

"I've gotta get out of here, before he reforms." He said to himself, as quickly dug his food out of the rubble. He limped back home as fast as he could, and clawed his way up the steps. He made it to the apartment door, but began to hear his ears pop, and spots blurred his vision even further, he rolled on to his back, and lost consciousness just before he heard his mom yelling his name.

**:'( Poor Percy, huh? Well this chapter took a little while to write, but it was totally worth it. The fight scene wasn't that long, I know. Thank you for the advice bestgyrl, again, I heeded it and gave it a try. I like how much more of a breeze it is to read now. So, thanks.**

**Please Review, so I know what I can do better, or how much you love it, or hate it for that matter. But NO trolling, I don't like trolls.**

**I might post another chapter, or maybe two, tonight. Depends, the night is still young, so I might do something else instead. **

**I just don't know! **

**LOL, that's dramatic me when I'm torn between choices! ;)**

**And to any reviewers, thanks. I'll check out some of your stories…if you keep the reviews coming. **

**Just kidding, but still-review, or I will hunt you down!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a heads up so you don't let a little WTF when you read this… this chapter is centered on Annabeth, so don't wig out. And you may have noticed this chapter has no name, I can't think of one, so I'm going to leave it blank, so please, remove all frown faces. This is right after her phone call, and her dad and step family were at the airport to see her off. So, that's how Bobby and Matthew had gotten a hold of her cell. **

Chapter Three

Annabeth shut her phone, and she let out a dreamy sigh as she sat down on a bench. She couldn't _wait_ until her plane landed in New York, her boyfriend was going to pick her up, and he'd drive them to camp. She couldn't wait to see him, in person, not an Iris message, so she could be in his arms again. They had been happily dating since the end of the second Titan War, but the long distance thing, she could tell, wasn't benefiting their relationship. And it wasn't going to get any better unless she moved to New York.

That wouldn't be a problem with her at all; she could stay at camp during the next school year, then when college came around…oh, college. The thought of it scared her, all the crazy stories she had heard about it, shootings, parties gone bad, teen pregnancies, oh Gods. She pushed the thought aside, and waited for the announcement for her plane to come on over the intercom.

_Gods, I'm starving, _she thought as her stomach grumbled when she looked over to the food court. She finally let herself walk over and order some chicken Lo Mein from a Chinese restaurant, and she hung onto it so she could eat it on the plane. Annabeth assumed she was going to die of boredom on the plane, from the ADHD and all, so she stood up again and walked over to a magazine stand. The occupant behind the desk was sleeping on the job, "Hello? Can I have that Time magazine, please?" When she didn't get an answer, she rapidly shook the owner, and he snapped awake,

"What?" He said, his head swaying in the air, while he looked up at the ceiling.

Annabeth simply put a five dollar bill under his nose, and grabbed the magazine she wanted. Just then, the beep of the intercom came on,

"Plane for New York now boarding at gate A3, now boarding for New York, gate A3." A feminine voice echoed through the airport.

She grabbed her luggage and stepped through the gate, and onto the plane. Her father had offered to buy her a business class seat, and she accepted it gratefully. After she had stored her luggage up, she settled in with her food and magazine. She tried reading it as best as she could, but gave up and snapped it down into her laptop bag. Annabeth unfolded the table and set her food down, it was a little cold, but she gobbled it down as if she hadn't eaten in days.

"Last call for New York plane, last call." She could hear the bored drone of the announcer in the distance. The plane was quiet, there was little conversation going around. Annabeth clicked her seatbelt as the pilot's voice came on,

"Good evening, thank you for selecting American Airlines as your transporter." _Blah, blah…blah, blah, blah._ Was all she could hear after a while, but she gripped her armrests so much her knuckles turned a pale white color, when the plane disembarked. When it was safe to unbuckle and move about, she reclined her seat, and drifted off into sleep.

Annabeth snapped awake when she felt someone shaking her, "Miss, miss?" She opened her eyes to find that an older young man in his twenties, shaking her shoulder, "Would you like a beverage from the cart?"

She rubbed her tired eyes, "Sure, I'll take a bottle of water." He nodded and was about to walk off but she stopped him.

"Anything else you need?" He asked eagerly.

"No thank you, but. Where are we now?" Annabeth asked, still rubbing her eyes.

"We're just above Ohio. We'll be landing in another two hours or so, miss." He responded.

She nodded in thanks, and looked out into the dark. She looked down at her watch, ten thirty. It'd be awfully late when she Percy was going to pick her up, maybe she could just spend the remainder of the night at his house, then they could go to camp from there. Annabeth dug around through her laptop bag and took out Daedelus's laptop; she hadn't even scratched the surface of all the phenomenal ideas on the computer. She had tried to show Percy something on the laptop, but he lost interest in about five seconds…if that. As a result, he got the laptop in the, let's just be blunt, he got them in the balls.

The steward came back with the water, "There you are, miss."

She smiled up at him, "Thank you." He nodded and wandered off to assist other passengers.

_Fifteen minutes after landing…_

"Hey, this is Percy. Leave a message and I'll get back to you." The answering machine on his phone had picked up for the third time now, but no actual Percy. After the sound of the _beep_ she spoke, "Hey, Percy. You're probably already here or something…but, if you're not that's fine, too. But please come pick me up soon." She ended the message and sat on the edge of the fountain in the front of the airport.

_Back at Percy's apartment…_

Percy's mom had been keeping a watchful eye on her son for the last few hours; she had no idea what to do, or how to clean his wound. She had found some sort of spike lodged in the calf of his leg, but she didn't know where that had come from. Percy had been slipping in and out of consciousness, breaking out into a fever and cold sweats. She could tell he was delirious from the pain, so she could tell this was no ordinary wound, it had to be from some creature he had stumbled across. "I need to call Annabeth." She pressed a cold cloth onto his forehead, "I'll be right back, honey. Just-just stay awake, okay?"

Percy's teeth were gritted and his eyes clamped shut, he was gripping onto his blanket by the fistful, "Yeah, call-Annabeth." He gasped and passed out again.

She rushed over to his cluttered desk and found his phone overtime. She scrolled through his options of the phone until she found the contacts button, and selected it, and Annabeth's name was the very first name on the list. She put the phone up to her ear with one hand, while tapping her other hand on her knee anxiously, "Percy? There you a-"

"Annabeth? Sorry, but I need your advice." Sally said, cutting her off.

"_My _advice? Well…okay what's going on?" Annabeth asked, uncertain.

"Well…Perce-Percy's hurt. Like, really, really bad and-"This time she got cut off.

"WHAT? PERCY'S IN TROUBLE? I'll be there, in like, five minutes!" Annabeth said, choking up.

"Five minutes?" Sally asked while shifting the phone around, "Okay, then. Please hurry."

"I will." Annabeth said, while stifling back a sob.

Annabeth sprinted as best as she could towards a taxi that was idle in front of the airport and hopped into the back seat, and told the taxi driver the address.

Once they finally got in front of the apartment, she paid the driver, and he sped off. Annabeth ran up the stairs to her boyfriend's apartment, and before she could even knock the door swung open, "Come on in." Paul said stepping out of the way as she ran into Percy's room. His stepdad looked oblivious to what was truly going on with Percy, so Paul shuffled back to bed. She dropped her bags at the doorway, and ran to be by his side.

**Yes, a cliffhanger…sort of. Since I'm feeling in a writing mood tonight, I'll write another chapter after this one. Please write a review, telling me how much you like it…or hate it. And I'll take any relevant advice, or grammar things you caught. But I'll tell you, I use a program that has spelling and grammar check. The only grammar mistakes you'll find are fragments, but the way people talk now a days; you probably won't even know that they're fragments. Anyway, everyone pumped for the New Years? I sure know I am. 2011 has been fun, but I'm ready to take on 2012. I'm a little anxious, though. I know the end of the world thing isn't really real, but it makes you think. Hey! That gives me an idea, I'll have little polls once in a while, and you can PM me, and tell me your answer. I'll pick the best one and…I don't know what the prize is yet. I might post it on an author's note; and I might send you a sneak peek of the next chapter.**

**So, on with the question…**

**What is your new year's resolution?**

**I know what mine is…nothing. (Yeah, that's REAL inspirational, right?)**

**-iGwyn12**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: The Hero Calls in Sick

Annabeth ran her hand through the jet black hair of her unconscious boyfriend, "How'd he end up like this?"

Sally shook her head sadly, "I don't know…there's this spike stuck in his leg but-"

Annabeth pulled Percy's jeans of his slack, unconscious body, "Um, you don't mind, do you?" She said, while turning a dark shade of pink.

Sally hesitated, but nodded slightly, "If it gets that spike-thing out of his leg, by all means, go ahead."

Annabeth ghosted her fingers over his leg, and finally found the Manticore spike, lodged in his calf, a little above his knee. She was no surgeon; she couldn't get this out of his leg herself. "I need to get him to camp-now." She dug around through her bags until she found a bottle of nectar. Annabeth had to force it down, and he coughed and sputtered while sitting up,

"Blargh…wha-what's going on? Where am I?" He said, his eyes twitching and looking every which way, until he somewhat locked eyes with Annabeth, "What are you doing here? I'm supposed to be in Japan right now!" Annabeth got her delirious boyfriend on his feet, "Where's my cupcake, it's supposed to pink sprinkles with a lil' strawberry shortcake on it, right?" He was breaking out into sweat again, and his hair was damp with perspiration.

With the help of Paul, they managed to get Percy into his car, and put him in the backseat. The car was pretty old, but it still got him places. The thing was a '85 Volkswagen Passat; he had been saving up money to buy it for weeks, until he finally bought it. Most everyone thought it was a piece of junk, but that car was like gold to Percy, he swore by it. He sat in the center back seat, and was banging his head against the sides of the front seats. "Please make sure you call me as soon as he's better, please." Sally pleaded with her son's boyfriend.

"Don't worry, Sally. I will." Annabeth said, starting up Percy's car. The C.D. player blasted White Stripes, and she turned it down a little. She looked back at him, and he had passed out again, and was curled up into a fetal position in the back seat, in a drooling spell. "Seaweed Brain…" She said, shaking her head, but smiling at him.

_About a half hour later, at Camp Half Blood…_

Annabeth put the shift into 'park' and pulled the key out of the ignition. "Hey Percy. I'm going to go get help, just stay here, okay?" She knew he couldn't hear her, but it comforted her, talking to him. She took her hoodie off and draped it over him, "Go get help…please. I can't take the pain anymore." He gasped suddenly while writhing around in pain.

She ran like Hell, through the strawberry fields, through the basketball court, and finally to the Big House. She pounded on the door, and Chiron, in his wheelchair form, "Annabeth? Weren't you supposed to get here later today?"

She shook her head, "Yeah, yeah I was. But I…there's something wrong with Percy. I think he got attacked by a Manticore or something." Chiron scratched his beard,

"Get some of the border patrollers to help you carry him back here. I'll go wake a healer up, now go!" She could hear him step out of the fake wheelchair; and back to his centaur form, galloping to the Apollo Cabin. She ran back to the borders and found a few patrollers, two of them were Travis and Connor, who jumped out of a tree and went ninja. They slashed and jabbed at her, Connor even threw a ninja star at her, but it whizzed past her ear and impaled a tree…poor tree.

"Guys. Guys! GUYS!" They froze, "Percy got attacked by a Manticore, and I need your help carrying him to the Big House, okay? Now come with me, and leave your ninja get-out behind." After dropping their Samurai swords and ninja stars down, they ran down to the car. Annabeth could hear the brothers plotting something,

"_We could always do the old, saran wrap toilet prank on him. He'd be so drugged up on medicine he wouldn't even notice it." _Travis whispered.

"Uh, guys? I'm right here…you're not whispering through a bull horn, are you? I can hear you from over here! Now help me get me out of the car." Annabeth demanded as the two brothers grabbed him by the arms, her holding him by the ankles. She kicked the car door shut, and they carried him to the Big House living room. They carefully laid him down on the sofa, and just then, Chiron returned with a healer, and a good friend of theirs, Will Solace.

"Holy mother of Zeus! What happened to him?" He exclaimed while checking Percy's pulse, and his expression turned grim, "He's in pretty bad shape, but we need to get him to a bed, so I can start to work on that wound. They shifted him to one of the guest rooms, and set him down onto the tidy bed. "Percy? I need you to stay awake, okay?" Will said, "Keep him awake until I get back. I'm going to need a lot of supplies, and I'm going to need them fast. So I need everyone's help." Chiron and the Stoll brothers, along with Will rushed to the Apollo cabin for medical supplies, which left Percy and Annabeth alone. Percy eyes were only open a little bit, and his breathing was becoming more slow and shallow.

"Annabeth?" He gasped, wiping the sweat off his forehead, "I'm sorry I couldn't get you from the airport."

She cracked a smile, and couldn't help but laugh, and he let out a weak chuckle as well. Annabeth burst into a flurry of tears and buried her face into his sweat-drenched shirt. "Hey…it's okay. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." When she looked back up at him, he looking back at her with tired eyes, "I'm not going anywhere, Wise Girl." He grasped her hand and squeezed it, and she did the same. Just then, Will burst into the room, followed by the other three, all with armfuls of ambrosia, nectar, and a few first aid kits.

"Sorry, everyone, but I'm going to need everyone to leave the room. I need to have a quiet room to work on Percy's leg." Will said, setting everything onto a steel table.

Annabeth held onto his hand for as long as she could before Chiron removed her from the room, "I'll be fine…I promise, but I think this hero is going to be calling in sick tomorrow." Chiron closed the door when Percy finished cracking his joke.

**I can't-write-anymore-must-SLEEP! The ending probably was, shitty. But if you haven't noticed yet, I kind of rushed through this chapter because one, my sister kept doing her 'snark' laugh, and I couldn't concentrate, and then the fact that I'm exhausted. The snark thing has a face, too…but it looks and awful lot like troll face. If somebody screws up on something, she'll do the snark laugh, but I didn't have the slightest idea what I had screwed up on…maybe, it's saying I'll mess up on something in my future…OOOooh. . Anyway…distractions, distractions, thank you for the three new reviews, I appreciate them very much. Glad you like it so much, HungerGamesLuver13. Also, thank you for telling me that, don't suffer from insanity, I'm glad because it is a pain in the…buttocks *snark snark* to spellcheck (Nice screen name, by the way I think I already suffer from insanity). 0.o**

**P.S. I'm going shopping with my famiry *snark* tomorrow, so I may not update until later in the day. If I don't update at all, which is highly unlikely, with all the spare time I have, then I hope you have a great new year's eve.**

**Fodhlithe *snark* . Oh will you shut up, Snark? It's 'bye' in Irish!**

**~iGwyn12**

**P.P.S Remember to answer my question I posted, I mean if you don't want to, then, fine…be that way! I'll pick the best answer tomorrow night.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: The Hero Calls in Sick II

Annabeth was shaking uncontrollably when she had to leave the room. She wanted to be by Percy's side, and she was sure he probably wanted her with him, too. Annabeth was anxious something would go wrong; what if he had to get his leg amputated, or worse, what if he…didn't make it? Connor and Travis had gone back to border patrol, which left Chiron and Annabeth on the porch, where they could hear Percy screaming and cursing out of pure agony. Every few seconds, Percy would scream, "That's it, I can't take it anymore." She tried to enter the Big House, but Chiron pulled her back.

"Child, you have to stay here, the fact that Percy is still alive is a shock. Manticore spikes are…very venomous. He should've been dead hours ago." Chiron said, shaking his head, and let her go.

Annabeth charged into the guest room and gasped in shock, "Oh my gods!" The sheets on the bed were drenched in Percy's blood, and he was not responding to Will screaming his name, "He's not breathing! Let me check his pulse again!" He put two fingers under his jawline, "He's still got pulse, a really weak one though. Percy!" Annabeth shook Percy's shoulders vigorously until he let out a small breath of air. "I haven't even gotten that damn spike out of his leg yet, but I think I can now." Will said, grabbing a pair of pliers from the table and clamping down on the spike, "Now Percy…this is going to hurt a lot, just please don't move." Percy took Annabeth's shaky hand and held it tightly. Will yanked the spike out quickly, and Percy arched his back and let out a scream so loud, you could've heard it from Olympus itself.

"Percy! Everything's okay, the spike's out of your leg, now." She said rubbing her hand on his forehead. Will was cleaning up the wound with nectar; to kill the toxins where the deadly spike used to be. "Everything's going to be, Percy. You're fine, now."

Percy let a weak, tired laugh, "It's over now?" She nodded to her boyfriend and looked down for a few moments, and when she looked back up, Percy was asleep, his chest slowly rising and dropping.

Will grabbed a damp cloth and wiped his hands clean of the dried blood from Percy, "Well…he's okay now. He's just going to have fever like symptoms for a few days, and we're going to have to change his bandages every few hours. As for me, I'm going back to sleep." He sure looked like he needed it, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his gait was slow and hunched. Will walked over to the couch and crashed out and began sleepy soundly the second he laid down. Annabeth looked back at Percy, who opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling, like something was up there, but she couldn't see it herself.

"Percy?" He shifted around and sat up, looking at her, "Do you need anything?" He shook his head, and traced his finger across the thread of the sheets, and he took a hold of her hand again. She started to nod off,

"Annabeth?" She snapped back, "I love you…so much. Words cannot describe." Her eyes got misty.

"Really?" She asked, and he nodded back. She leaned down to kiss him, and he met her halfway. Kissing felt foreign to each other; they hadn't in months of not seeing each other in person. Small kisses turned into a half hour make out session, until Percy finally said, "I'm sorry, I'm, really tired, I need to go back to sleep a little longer." Annabeth was a little disappointed but she could tell he was exhausted, "That's fine, Percy." She crawled up onto the bed and rested her head on his chest, while he wrapped his arm over her shoulder. Percy slowly fell asleep, his eyes batting until he faded off, and Annabeth joined him.

_The next morning…_

Percy snapped his eyes back shut when they opened to the blazing morning sun. Apollo must've been driving his Maserati at speeds as fast as light. He now only cracked opened his eyes slightly, and looked through the open door. Percy could see a few of the cabins, and a couple of campers, gathering around to head to breakfast. Breakfast sounded awesome to him, and looked down at Annabeth, who had her head nestled in the crook of his neck. He carefully moved away from her, and draped a blanket over her. He hadn't the foggiest on why he was at camp already, what he didn't remember either, was his wounded leg; and didn't notice it until he crumpled to the ground, "Ouch." Percy said in a dull tone, looking down at his leg now. He could hear Annabeth begin to stir from the noise,

"Percy? Percy? Where are you…" She trailed off when she found her injured boyfriend sprawled out on the wooden floor, "Percy…how long have you been lying here?" She put her arms under his back, supporting him as he sat up, Annabeth got him onto his feet, put his arm around her neck, and got him back to bed, "Percy. You can't get out of bed; Will doesn't want you walking on that leg. If you need anything, just ask me, and I'll get it for you." Percy huffed and pouted like a little kid,

"You're treating me like a kid, _mom_."

**Sorry this chapter was short, but, you know, I can only write so much before I need to run off and do something else. I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is; I have one more day of vacation. The bad…well, I have to go back to school after that. And that's going to cut my writing time into tiny pieces, so don't be sad if I don't update for days on end. I don't get that much homework, but I'm tired when I get home, from all the nagging and stuff like that. But the latest I'll drag out the updating is next weekend, you have my word on that. **

**One more thing, I have something quick to say, and this was my Facebook status,**

**Me: "Moo…I'm a giraffe."**

**Friend: LOL**

**Another Friend: "You're weird Gwyn."**

**Sister: "Bark…I'm a mouse."**

**Me: "Thank you, Jill."**

**It's not that funny, but still, it gave me a little laugh.**

**See you star side,**

**~iGwyn12**

***snark snark* Oh…you again. **

**P.S. Don't worry, your boy (Percy) is going to be just fine! HungerGamesLuver13 :)**

**P.P.S. Please Review, and please, give my other story a little look at.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I know I already said this in the author's note in the last chapter, but just a heads up. This may be the last time I update for a while, so I'll make this chapter extra special, or at least try to. I wish sometimes I didn't have to go to school and just go to straight up art school, where I belong! I would love it even better if we didn't have to have math class alone…**

**Oh, and by the way everyone, Happy New Year! Glad I've got a fresh slate, 2011 wasn't my best year. **

Chapter Seven: Nico's Persistence Pays Off, Sort Of

After Annabeth had got him back into bed, she had run over to the dining pavilion to get some food for Percy and herself. She had scraped some of her food into the fire, and did the same with Percy's food. Annabeth had gotten a big plate of eggs toast and bacon so she could divvy it up onto two different plates, "Oh my gods, thank you!" Percy exclaimed as she handed him his food. It had got quiet, because the two of them were too busy chomping down on their breakfast.

"Percy, I just realized something a few minutes ago." Percy looked up from his breakfast plate, which was sitting in his lap, and motioned her to go on, "I forgot our camp stuff back at your apartment, I should run over and grab it, and I can tell your mom that you're okay." Percy nodded,

"Sounds like a plan, and I could hang out with Nico…" He was cut off by Annabeth, who was beginning to gather up their plates,

"I don't think so, Seaweed Brain. I already told you, Will said, he wants you to stay in bed, and not do anything that can take your energy down a lot." She walked back over to Percy, and kissed him lightly on the forehead, "Now stay in bed, alright?" He crossed his arms over his chest again, and pouted,

"Okay…" He grumbled. "Well maybe I can play video games with-"

"No." Annabeth said, tidying up the room a little more.

"Just for a few minutes-"

"No." Again, continuing to clean up the room.

"Come _on_!"

"No! Percy, don't you understand how bad you got hurt? You got attacked by a Manticore, a _Manticore_. It's like you have the flu, if you do something that requires walking around, you're going to break out into sweat, and very easily pass out!" Percy chuckled,

"I love your nerdy talk."

Annabeth threw her hands in the air, "Gah! Are you even listening to me?" She stormed out of the room with the breakfast plates. A few minutes later, Percy started to doze off, but snapped back awake when Annabeth looked like she was going to attack the room with cleaning supplies. In her hands was Demeter's Super Cleaning Spray 3000, a feather duster, paper towels, and new bed sheets, since the other ones were bloodied, and Percy hadn't noticed that yet. He finally noticed it, and got so freaked out, he fell out of bed again, "Oh, good. I was just about to tell you to get off the bed anyway." She stated frankly, and tore the old sheets off, and put on the new ones.

"I'm sorry, but did I piss you off somehow?" Percy asked. She turned around a gave him a glare that could bury you six feet under,

"I don't know Percy, what couldn't I be pissed off at you about? The fact that you almost died? I almost died myself; from all the stress you've put me under the past few hours. Almost everyone who gets poisoned from one of those things has died; you could've been one of them! And I can't lose you again, Percy." (A.N. For those who haven't read SoN or TLH yet, skip this part, or read it at your own risk! You've been warned…) She sat on the bed across from Percy, "I just can't. I didn't eat, I didn't sleep…You mean that much to me Percy. If you were gone for good, I could never forgive myself; I wouldn't be able to... live with myself."

Percy looked down at the floor and scratched the back of his neck, "I'm sorry. It wasn't my fault that I disappeared. I'm sorry that I worried you so much." He gently lifted her chin up, so she was looking directly at him, "I hope you know that." Annabeth rushed into his arms, straddling his waist, and burying her face into his shoulder,

"Don't you dare leave me again, Jackson." Annabeth said, bawling like crazy now. He hugged her tighter, strengthening the feeling of her sobbing. After she calmed down a little, she wiped her tear soaked face across the sleeve of her T-shirt, and walked out of the room, leaving Percy in his storm cloud of emotions and thoughts that swam in around in his head. He felt like his head was buzzing, how could he have left her like that? (A.N. You can read now…) Percy stood up out of the chair, and limped to the door in a jerky way. He needed a shower, and he knew Chiron wouldn't mind if he used one of the guest bathrooms. A hot shower might clear his head and make him feel better. He was about to get undressed but heard someone enter the Big House,

Percy poked his head out of the bathroom, "Who's there? Is that you, Annabeth?" He walked through the house, shirtless,

"Really, Percy?" Nico was leaning against the doorway, holding a bag from Wal-Mart. "Well…I heard that you got hurt, so, uh, I got you some stuff. So, you know, you don't look like a hobo when you're better, and so you don't smell like one, either." Nico handed him the plastic bag, and handed a bouquet of black roses from behind his back. Percy was about to run his finger across the petals, but Nico grabbed his hand in midair, "Um, I wouldn't do that, if I were you. Those are from Hades, yeah it sounds weird, but read the card, and you'll get it." Percy carefully pulled the card off the flowers on the cover it had a pink cover with a fuzzy bunny on it, Percy looked at his card in suspicion, and opened the card. On the inside, was a picture of a gravesite, and the grave somehow had his name on it. The message on the right read,

_Happy birthday, sucker, and by the way, if you haven't noticed yet, the flowers had, who would've guessed it, Manticore venom, injected into them, ha!_

_ -Hades_

Percy tucked the card back into the bouquet; some gods had a sick sense of humor. "Very cute." Percy grumbled, snatching the bag from Nico. Inside it was, Axe deodorant and soap, shaving cream, razor, and a teddy bear, holding a heart. "This doesn't have C4 stuffed in it from Ares, does it?" Percy said sarcastically. Nico furrowed his eyebrows, and looked at him in a freaked out way,

"No…" Nico said, slowly walking away, "Going back to my cabin, bye!" He scrambled away. Percy stared at the spot his cousin was standing at earlier; he never even got the chance to say thanks. Percy tossed the bear onto his freshly made bed, tossed the roses and sick excuse of a card into the trash, and brought the rest of his stuff into the bathroom. Percy washed up, and kept his balance, pretty good. He almost fell enough times, but other than that, he was fine. Percy wrapped a towel around his lean waist and put a washcloth around his neck, and massaged some shaving cream onto his face. He had gotten a bit of a five o' clock shadow, after all. After shaving his face, he wiped the leftover cream off his face with the washcloth, and limped back to his room. He sat at the edge of the bed, hanging his head, causing water to drip from his damp hair. He cursed when he remembered his only clothes were his sweaty, clothes that smelled like a gym, that he had worn to camp. He would have to wait until Annabeth got back from the apartment with his bag before he could change, damn it…

Just then, Annabeth walked into the room, but yelped in surprise at Percy, "What? You've seen me shirtless before…" She shook her head,

"Yeah, sorry. Um, I'm going out to get our stuff, okay?" He shook his hair like a soaking wet dog, making Annabeth squeal in surprise, but she had a right, he had enlarged the water, making the impact of the water more like a buckets worth, "Percy! Now I'm soaking wet, do you want me to get your stuff or not?" He rolled his eyes and willed her dry,

"Relax, Wise Girl. I've got your back." He said, placing the washcloth on his head, and running it through to get his hair dried. She sighed,

"I'm leaving now, do you need anything out?" She said, beginning to walk out of the room.

"Could you get me some lunch?" He stood up, grabbing her around the waist playfully and whispering, "I'll make it worth your while." She smirked and whirled around, grabbing him by the chin, forcing him to give her a kiss,

"Alright, then." She readjusted her hoodie, and walked out the room. "Love you, Percy!"

He shook his head, what did she just say? A smile grew on his face, "Love you, Annabeth." He muttered, smiling to himself.

Nico stuck his head into the entrance of the Big House, but was grabbed by the neck and pinned up against the wall by Mr.D, "Who are you, and why are you snooping around? I can turn you into a poodle, right here, right now! Speak!" He lessened the grip on Nico's fragile neck, but only a little bit, "It's, me, sir! Nico Di Angelo, I was just here to play video games with Percy!" Dionysus looked at him with a crazed look, which got more and more intense as he leaned closer to Nico's face, but then it went to a slack, calm face as fast as the other one had started,

"Oh, okay." He let go of Nico, and he was about to run off, but grabbed the young boy again, "Wait, did you say Peter? Peter Johnston? Answer me, Nikki Diamartino!" Nico rolled his eyes at the god; he could barely handle remembering a name alone!

"Uh, actually it's Percy. Percy Jackson?" Dionysus grumbled and released him, wandering off to the porch. Nico ran into Percy's room, "What's up, cousin? How about we play some, Modern Warfare Three?" Percy shook his head,

"Will and Annabeth said I need to rest." Nico let the hand holding the game and controllers go slack at his side.

"You're joking right now, aren't you?" Percy raised an eyebrow and shook his head, "No? Let me ask you something, Mister Jackson. Are you going to let some rules hold you back from playing the best-freaking-game-on-earth?" He raised the game over his head between the words until he was holding it high above his head."

"Yes." Percy said, dully, rolling onto his side and tucking the pillow between his neck, "Sorry, Nico. If I don't follow the rules in this case, Will and Annabeth are going to be out for blood, my blood." Nico sighed, but then an idea popped into his head,

"I'll be right back, hold onto these!" He tossed the controllers and game into Percy's lap, and he looked at the back of the container for the game.

Nico sprinted to the camp store, which was run by some son of Hermes, which was by far the dumbest idea of all time. Nico was pretty sure the kid's name was Nick, and Nick was sitting behind the counter, boots propped on the table, aviators on to cover his eyes, he was in the middle of snoozing. Nico was about to shake the kid awake, but Nick put his hand up, "Don't worry, I'm up." He straightened up his glasses and stood up from his seat, "Nicks the name, stealing, er, I mean selling's the game. Ask what you want, and I'll ask a price. They're reasonable, best in the camp." In camp, you mean other people were doing stuff like this? Nico thought to himself.

"I need a T.V. for my bud's room." Nico said, but tensed up when Nick looked at him over the top of his glasses.

"You talkin' about Jackson? Can't he get it himself?" Nick scratched his brown head of hair.

"Yeah. I just need a smaller one." Nick shrugged at Nico,

"'Kay, let me see…" He walked into the small back room of the outdoor store and came back out with a small flat screen T.V. "Smallest one I got. I'll give it to you for, let's say, a hundred bucks." Nico's eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets, "I'll take it!" He took out three fifties and handed them Nick, he slid the box that contained the T.V. to Nico, who ran back to Percy's room.

Percy was crashed out holding Modern Warfare Three when Nico ran into the room, "Percy, Percy! I got a T.V.! Now all I have to do is get my Xbox, and we can play video games in here!" He felt someone behind him, and he faced him, Will.

"What about Xbox? I don't think so, Percy's all drugged up again anyway he won't be awake for a while. But, I'll put this over here…" Will sidestepped past Nico and set the T.V. in the corner on the table, "You'll have to wait to play video games later, when Percy feels up to it." Will took the game and controller and set them onto the table as well. Nico pouted, and walked past Annabeth as he was heading back to his cabin,

"What's wrong, Nico?" Annabeth looked down at Nico, but he didn't answer. She shrugged to herself and dropped her luggage off at her cabin, and dropped Percy's bag off at his cabin. She had bought McDonald's for him to eat for lunch. "Hey, Will." He tipped his head to her and stepped out of the room, back to his cabin. She set the bag of food at his side table, and pulled a chair up by his side, "Sleep well, Seaweed Brain."

**Aw…**

**Okay people, I hope everyone had a good New Year's. And I'll say this one more time, I may not update for a while, I have to go back to school Tuesday, and that slashes my writing time. I might write one more chapter; even though I said at the top this may be the last one…I lied! Not really, I just wrote that AU this morning, and I'm currently writing this at 12:27 AM of January 2, 2012, large time difference, right there. I wrote this chapter and put extra fancy sauce on it, for you guys…you're welcome. I think this is the longest chapter I've written for this story, yet.**

**Okay people, now I need to sleep; or I'm going to freaking die! 0.o**

**I'm out of here,**

**~iGwyn12**

**zzzzZZZZZzzzzZZZZZzzz **

**P.S. Have you guys heard of that picture book ****Go the Fuck to Sleep****? Look up the audio recording with Samuel L. Jackson reading it, I rolled over laughing. I understand it perfectly, and I don't even have kids! Some parents think it's terrible because it has cuss words, but still, they can't deny it's not funny at all!**

**Here's the link, just copy and paste it. It should work.**

**.com/watch?v=cQZmU2GnUdA**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Sunday Morning

Percy wanted to wake up, but was trapped in a grey state of mind. _Oh, gods; Will must've given him painkillers of some kind_ Percy thought. He managed to power through the mental prison of tiredness, and wake up. He saw the door was open again, giving him a view of the camp, and the sun setting behind the trees. Percy looked over to the lamp that was on, and Annabeth was reading a book under it, and he let out a loud yawn to get her attention. She looked up from her book and shut it quietly, "Hey, Percy. How're you feeling?" He rubbed the sleepy seeds out of his eyes,

"Fine, I guess. Will must've mixed them in with something, 'cause I didn't ask for any painkillers. I didn't even want them, I'm fine." Percy ranted on how much he hadn't wanted the pills, but were given them anyway, until she placed her index finger on his lips to _shush _him.

"Percy." He got quiet and sat up a little, and saw the bag of McDonald's on the table, Annabeth saw Percy eyeballing it, "Oh, right that's your lunch, but it's getting a little late, they're going to be serving dinner in the pavilion, and the food is probably cold now, too." Percy grabbed the bag of food anyway, and wolfed down his food.

"Mrrf…" Percy swallowed some of his burger so he could talk, "This is the best, thanks." She waved her hand, telling him that it wasn't a problem at all. He finished off his fries and soda. "I'll be right back." Annabeth looked up from her book, "Okay."

He limped out the door and looked back, making sure she wasn't watching him. He limped out to the porch, and shut the screen door behind him quietly. This was taking a lot of energy out of him, but it was worth it anyway. He had a full view of the camp, the sunset, and the canoe lake; the sun's rays were reflecting off the water. He leaned on the railing, watching campers heading to the dining pavilion. He couldn't wait until he could walk again; it wasn't fun being bedridden. Percy heard the screen door open behind him, and footsteps come to a stop next to him. He looked by his side and saw Annabeth by his side; Percy wrapped an arm around her waist. "I'm finally home again."

She leaned her head on him, "Yeah, same here." And with that, they watched the sun set, and head back inside.

Percy sat alone in his room, resting, while Annabeth got food for them at the pavilion. He insisted he got his food himself, but she reprimanded him, and said he had to stay in bed. He looked at the book on the side table, turning it over, and looking at the cover in more detail. The cover was written in old English, but the author of the book was Edgar Allan Poe. Percy flipped through a few of the pages; the book was filled with poems like _The Raven_. He never really liked reading, since he was dyslexic, and couldn't read it without the words shifting around on him. He set the book back on the table, sighing, and looking out through the doorway. He could hear the _clank _of plates; and in walked Annabeth with a tray holding covered plates of food. She divided up the food as she had earlier in the morning, and they ate, talking in between swallows of food. Percy, finished his meal first, and set his plate off to the side, "So, reading some Edgar Allan Poe?" She looked surprised a little at his question, but nodded,

"I'm surprised you even picked up the book." She smirked, setting down the plate, and placing the book in Percy's hands, "Read it." He fumbled around with the pages,

"Uh…which poem do you want to hear?" Percy said, palms beginning to fell slightly sweaty. She leaned over to look at the selection, and placed her finger on the page she wanted read to her. He read the poem as best as he could, with some help from Annabeth, but he could feel his face get red, and he could tell it was probably bright red.

She gave a sincere smile to him, "Percy, don't worry about it. I won't judge you on your reading skills." She ran her hand up and down his arm, reassuringly. He gripped her hand, and they both locked eyes on each other, leaning in for a kiss, until they heard the door open,

"Whoops." The clip-clop of hooves filled the small room, "Percy!" Grover bleated. His curly brown hair stuck every which way, but they couldn't cover up the goat-like horns on his head. He wore khaki shorts, and a green plaid button down shirt. He eyed the tin tray the plates were carried on, "For me? Thanks guys!" He snatched up the tray, chomping off a piece the moment he got his hands on it.

"So, how's life been, G-Man?" Percy asked, watching his friend swallow down the rest of the pliant tray. Grover let out a burp, "Fine, dude. We've been getting _tons_ of demigods rescued; I'm going to need a bigger amount of travel money!" Grover finally noticed Annabeth sitting at his friend's side, "Annabeth! How's Olympus coming along?" She perked up at his question, "You have no idea, it looks amazing, I mean, it looked amazing before, but now it looks phenomenal, and it's not even finished yet." Percy hadn't heard much about the rebuilding of Olympus, so it was interesting to hear what was going on finally. Grover leapt out of the chair, "I've gotta go, I'm meeting Juniper, so…bye!" He scrambled out of the room. Will walked into the room, next with a roll of bandages, along with some nectar, painkillers, and water.

"Hey guys, sorry Percy, but you're going to have to take more of those pills again; unless you want to be writhing around in pain in the middle of the night." Will stated, setting down the medicine down. He rubbed some nectar onto a cotton ball, and set it aside, "I've got to take off these bandages, hold still…" Will dug through a few drawers until he found a pair of medical scissors, cutting through the bandages when he found them. He unraveled the bandages, beginning to dab the wound with the cotton ball.

"Ouch! Gods, Will. That stuff stings!" Percy shouted, "It's freezing cold, too." Will looked at Percy, "Jeez, Percy. It really isn't that bad. You've gone wimpy, man. Once you're on your feet, Annabeth's going to have to get you sword fighting again." He picked up the delicate roll of bandages, wrapping them around the wound, "I know you hate these but… you need to take them." He handed painkillers to him, and Percy reluctantly took them. "Well, I'm going to sleep, g' night you two." He stretched in his seat, stood up, and strolled out. Percy began to feel drowsy, yawning and settling into bed.

"Good night, Percy. See you in the morning; if you need anything, I'll be right out here." She flicked off the lamp, gave him a small kiss on the cheek, and walked out of the room. He could hear her recline onto the couch in the other room. His eyelids felt heavy, so he allowed them to close.

Percy dreamed of the sea that night.

_He sat on a rocky cliff, waves crashing all around him. Percy breathed in the clean sea breeze, and dove into the blue water. He swam past fish, turtles and all kinds of other sea creatures. Just up ahead, he could see his father, Poseidon's palace. He swam to the entrance of the palace; the guards bowed and opened the fortress doors. Percy walked in, and was escorted by a puffer fish wearing a red bowtie, "This way, my lord." The fish must've been the palace butler, because his voice had a very convincing tone in it. The fish lead him in the direction of the throne room, the doors opened to reveal Poseidon dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and swims shorts, lounging on his throne, "Percy. How are you?" _

_Percy smiled, "Awesome, what about you?"_

_Poseidon's face lit up, "Excellent, son. But, I heard about your injury, I'm sorry about that."_

_Percy shrugged, "I'm fine, I should be able to walk pretty soon."_

_Poseidon nodded, "Good. Well, be sure to take a look at your cabin. I left you a few get-well gifts." _

_And with that, Percy began to wake up again._

Percy slowly opened his eyes, and wanted to check out his cabin right away. He tiptoed to Annabeth, placing a blanket over her. He continued to tiptoe the best he could to the porch, and tried walking a little, surprisingly enough, he could walk fine now. That nectar could work miracles. Percy sprinted to the cabins and unlocked the door to his. He grabbed around for the light switch in the near-pitch black of the morning, and finally found it, flicking it on. His cabin looked the same as it always did, but spotless and clear of trash and dust. The cleaning harpies were pretty up to date on their duties. Percy found his gifts in the previously empty corner of the room. There stood a plasma screen television, black leather recliner, a stereo system, a cabinet filled with games and movies, and a mini fridge. "Thanks, dad." Percy said aloud. Percy saw his duffle bag of stuff was plopped on the floor. He dug through it and grabbed a navy blue hoodie, jeans, and his pair of Adidas sandals. He slipped them on, grabbed a can of Cola out of his stash of snacks, and headed out to the dock.

Percy sat down on the edge of the dock, dipping his feet in the cool water. He popped the top back on the soda, taking a sip of the smooth soda, and resting his back on the paint-chipped dock. The sun started to rise little by little, and Percy could see the early morning fog blur the rays.

Percy already knew that this summer was going to be the summer of a lifetime; it would change his life forever. He realized this as the sun's rays fought through the fog, and the sun rose into the sky.

Sunday Morning…

**Hey guys, I am so sorry that you had to wait practically a week for this chapter. I just haven't been in the writing mood lately and the late nights have finally caught up to me. I said to my mom,**

"**I've been so tired lately!"**

**Mom: "You're a teenager."**

**Me: "I like staying up late, though. I'm not a morning person like I used to be."**

**Mom: "You can't be both without passing out from exhaustion."**

**Anyway, this chapter was a little disappointing to me.**

**Again, I may not update for a while, but I'll try to get the next chapter written ASAP.**

**Peace!**

**~iGwyn12**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Nine: The Hero Gets on His Feet

Annabeth woke up, with an eerie silence in the Big House. She thought she would wake up hearing Percy's breathing, or snoring for that matter. She looked in his room, empty. _Oh no, this is just like a rerun of last time, I wake up to him missing, and I don't see him for months on end _She thought to herself, "Percy?" She runs outside, the campground is still quiet, everyone else was either asleep or just about waking up. Annabeth ran to his cabin, banging the door like crazy, and, to her surprise, got an answer. Percy was looking down at her,

"Hey, Wise Girl. Why are you banging on my door?" He stepped to the side so she could come in, and she saw his stuff in the corner, "Percy. How many times am I going to have to say this until you get it into your head? Stay-in-BED!" Percy smirked, "Save it, Annabeth. I'm better now, see?" He walked around the room, perfect ease on his bad leg. She wasn't really surprised, Percy was very resilient, and he could heal quickly. "Um, when did you get the new man cave?" He looked over at Annabeth, and then followed her line of sight, "Oh! My dad, it was like, a get-well gift." Annabeth looked up at Percy, who was still staring at the T.V., "Well that's awfully generous." He nodded, walked over and leaned back in the recliner, "And you're not going to offer me a seat?" She said sarcastically, "Um…you can have this seat."

She laughed, "I was just kidding, Perce. Enjoy your man-chair." She could see his shoulders shrug and a hand come around, holding a controller.

"Want to play some Modern Warfare?" Percy asked, turning around and looking at her…

"What the-"Percy said as he got shot by Annabeth on the game, his load out dies. Percy continues to get his butt whooped by his girlfriend, who quick scopes and knifes him every time she gets the chance. "What the Hades? You're _so _screen peeking!" He whined. Percy's share of the massive T.V. screen read: Defeat, while Annabeth's read: Victory.

"Ha! And you said girls couldn't play video games!" Annabeth beamed.

Percy sulked, "Whatever. But I have to say- you're a natural quick scoper."

He stood up, and grabbed a bag of Doritos, "Chip?" Annabeth grabbed a handful, "Please."

They continued to play the game for about an hour. At around seven-thirty, Annabeth left to join up with the Athena cabin, and Percy lined up by himself. Being the only son of Poseidon at camp had some cons. Grover almost always ate with him, so he was never really alone at mealtime. He sat down at the Poseidon table, and Grover slid on the bench across from him, "Percy!" He bleated. Percy scooped some scrambled eggs onto his plate, along with a few pieces of bacon and a slice of toast. He walked his plate over to the brazier and scraped a portion of his meal off his plate into the fire. He sat back across from Grover and talked about small things like capture the flag and the upcoming warrior competition. Wait-what, upcoming warrior competition? His jaw dropped, causing the food in his mouth to dribble out, "Eh, what? This is the first I've heard about."

"And you're wondering why? Annabeth probably didn't tell you so she would have an advantage." A new voice had entered the conversation, Juniper. She sat down on the bench next to Grover.

"Heh. She's right, Percy. Annabeth may actually _beat you._ Perce, you've got to get back on track, unless-you want to lose this thing." Grover chuckled.

Percy thought about this. He realized they were both right, and that if he didn't start training up again, he would be left in the dust. Percy felt motivated, like he did when he was studying for a math exam, and he slammed down his fork, "I think I'm going to," He cracked his knuckles, "start some training."

"That's my boy, now get out there!" Grover shouted.

Percy scrounged around his cabin, searching around for his pieces of body armor. He grabbed them all and collected them in his arms. He was about to step out of the Poseidon cabin, but someone was blocking his way, Annabeth, "Hey Percy. How's it hanging?" She had a smile on her face, but it was shadowed by the steely look in her eye.

"Fine…" Percy narrowed his eyes, he knew that from this moment forward, until the competition, that there would be a quarrel between them, until the competition.

"That's good. So, did you hear about the, warrior competition?" Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him as well.

"Yeah, I did? You want explain to me why you didn't bring it up?" Percy shifted his armor in his arms.

"I don't know, actually." Annabeth picked something up that was by her feet, her own armor, "See you at the ring?"

"Wow. In my opinion, it sounds like you aren't going to be kissing those lips until you either give in, or, she wins." A voice said behind him. Percy knew it was Nico, and when he turned, found he was running his index finger across the flat of his blade.

"So, cousin, you're saying that I should either give in or…give in. That's a difficult choice." Percy grumbled, putting his hand in his pocket, and grabbing around for Riptide. "Are you in the competition?"

Nico scoffed, "Yeah. Of course I am, everybody, _everybody_ has to enter the competition. I mean, half the people with be eliminated at the tryouts, then the rest of the people will have to be in the actual competition."

"Well, okay then. I'm going to the arena." Percy said, slinging his gear over his shoulder.

There was a lot of commotion in the ring, Percy could tell. He could hear the clashing of swords and the sound of bodies hitting the ground in defeat. Percy tightened the straps on his body armor. Once he actually stepped into the ring, he could see many familiar faces, and new ones, too. Clarisse swiped the head of a practice dummy of its shoulders with her electric spear, Maimer. Travis and Connor were slashing at each other with their matching swords, while Will was firing an arrow, splitting another down the center that had already been shot on the bull's eye marker. And then Annabeth was dueling one of her half siblings, who looked her about her age. Annabeth's sibling had no chance, he tried throwing her legs out from underneath her, but she stopped his foot in midair. Annabeth twisted his hands, causing him to drop the blade, and her to plant a punch in his stomach. He fell to the ground, and the bystanders applauded.

Percy rolled his shoulder around, and stepped into the arena. He pulled out Riptide, and clicked it, "So, you came to lose, Percy?" Annabeth taunted. She was seriously getting cocky about this, too cocky.

"You're on."

**Oh, the suspension, I love it. The next chapter, obviously, is going to have a fight scene. It might be a little crumby, but I'll try my best. Heh, I got a tooth pulled and I had to get nitros oxcide and two shots of nova caine (hopefully I spelled those right). Instead of being all goofy like the last time I got that stuff, I was more like, blargh… *bloody drool coming out of my mouth* I had already been really tired before I was put under, so I just wanted to go to sleep.**

**Kiransomers: Thanks, I'm glad it wasn't :)**

**HungerGamesLuver13: Thank you! :D**

**I will update ASAP, and please review…**

**Blargh,**

**~iGwyn12**

**P.S. I think I'm going to change the summary and name of this story. It's not quite fitting for the story, yet. The next PJATO fanfiction I write will adopt the name, because I don't think I'm going to introduce the college scene until that story. I think I'm going to call it…I don't know.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Take Me On

Percy slashed Riptide, and Annabeth deflected it with the flat of her blade. He leaned down to force his weight, trying to disarm Annabeth under it. She fought back; pushing it back and managing to slide pull it away. Percy and Annabeth circled around the arena, eyes locked and both waiting to lunge at any moment. Percy raised his sword over his head, and charged her; but she sidestepped, causing him to do a flip, headfirst into the arena stands. He groaned, rolled onto his back, with his feet still dangling on the railing, "Come on Percy," Annabeth said, "On your feet!" She grabbed his hand and yanked him up, which really wasn't an easy task. The crowd went back to their own fights, and when nobody was looking, Annabeth pulled Percy close enough that his ear was right by her mouth, "If I were you, I'd start getting serious now. After all, you're going to be competing against _me_." She teasingly ran a finger across his jawline and strolled off, in a seductive sort of way. He grumbled under his breath while propping his back against a practice dummy.

"Percy, I see you're a little…out of practice." Chiron called, galloping over.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Percy said, sulking.

"Do you need me to catch you up on things?"

"Sure, thanks." This brightened Percy's spirits a little; he was just a little rusty. If he got back on track again, he would be knocking this competition out of the park.

"You know the competition is in a month, right?" Chiron asked, pulling his sword out of its sheath.

"Uh, right…" Percy lied.

Chiron went through various drills, and it all started coming back to Percy. Chiron was observing Percy hack through a dummy, fixing his stance or grip on his sword if it was wrong.

"Now, let's see you fight a real person…Clarisse!" He called, and from across the arena, the sound of the spear sufficed a little. Percy was on friendlier terms with Clarisse, somewhat. They still fought and were nasty to each other once in a while,

"What, Chiron?" A gruff voice called, and Clarisse marched over.

"I'd like you to have a spar with Percy, but please, no spear, get a sword for now." Chiron ordered.

"Fine." She grabbed a spare sword, "Let's do this, Prissy."

"Go!" Chiron screamed, and Percy immediately went in for the kill…

_A cut, ripped up shirt, and a bloody nose later…_

"Okay…I guess the winner is-Percy!" Chiron shouted.

Clarisse was on the ground, leaning back on her elbow in defeat, "When I get my hands on you, Jackson-you'll be regretting the day you were born!"

Percy tore a tattered piece of his shirt, "I highly doubt that." And walked off.

Annabeth was waiting for him at the exit of the arena, "Not bad, Seaweed Brain."

Percy grumbled, "Good enough for you to give me a kiss?" Annabeth contemplated this a little,

"Come here." Percy said, grabbing her waist and leaning in, and Annabeth met him halfway.

Percy broke away, "Don't try anything funny, Wise Girl. You are kissing the enemy, after all."

"Percy, Annabeth! What did I say about kissing out in the open?" Chiron yelled.

Percy waved a goodbye to his girlfriend, "See you around, Annabeth."

"Bye Percy." She called, running off back to the arena.

Percy was burning up from the training, and needed to cool off a little. Some time spent swimming wouldn't stop that. Percy dropped off his armor, changed out of his sweaty clothes, and put on his swim shorts, which clung to him a little from the lingering sweat. Percy tossed on a camouflage tank top, and slammed the cabin door shut. That got some attention, the attention of a small herd of Aphrodite girls. They giggled and waved to him, and he nodded to them awkwardly. Percy continued making his way towards the dock, and saw that it was already occupied by Grover and Juniper; they had a stereo radio blasting the Beatles. Percy ran down to the beach, where it was much, much more peaceful; free of flirtatious Aphrodite girls, a giggling couple, or a plotting Annabeth. He put his hands behind his head, and shut his eyes; making the sound of the waves softly lapping the shore even more relaxing.

"I thought I'd find you here, Percy." Percy's eyes shot open at the sound of his name, looking in the direction of the voice. Walking towards him was Annabeth, holding a basket of some sort.

"Hey Annabeth." He tried to paint on surprise over his suspicion.

"I brought us some lunch, want some?"

Percy panicked in his head. _Did she do something to the food?_

"And no, I didn't do anything to the food." She sighed, rolling her eyes as well.

"How did you know?"

"Know what, Perce?" She chided, unpacking the food.

"That I was thinking you snuck something into the food?" Percy tilted his head side to side, cracking his sore neck.

"Percy, just because we're competing against each other in a month, it…it doesn't mean I still don't love you." She said this while continuing to unpack the food, head down.

"Hey." He put one hand over hers, and tipped her chin up with his other hand, "You know me, I take these things seriously. But that doesn't mean I'm going to cut you off from me." He moved his other hand with the one already holding up her chin so she would look up at him, "Don't ever think like that, Annabeth."

Her lips formed a smile, and she laughed a little bit, "Oh, Percy." Their lips crashed together, and due to the surprise from Percy, a huge wave leapt over the rocks on the shore, making the kiss even more dramatic. They both broke away, and laughed simultaneously. Annabeth unpacked the rest of the food, handing a sandwich, can of Coke, and a small bag of chips to Percy. He patted the sand next to him, and Annabeth sat down beside him. They both watched the waves roll in, recoil, roll in, recoil…

When they finished eating, they laid down together in the sand. Annabeth was reading a novel, Percy slumbered a little; in the distance, Christina Perri's _Arms _played. Overtime, it lulled Annabeth to sleep with her boyfriend.

**:)**

**That was fun writing, like most chapters. **

**I checked my e-mail for the first time this year (yeah, I don't check it that much) and I found all the people who have added my stories to their favorites. I'm sorry I haven't acknowledged you guys yet, but thank you-thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are the best. Finding that just about made my day. I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while, I've been busy and stuff *cough cough writer's block cough cough* **

**Man, I'm loving this Southern weather. I used to live in Maine, so it was like winter until June. Down South, it's like springtime right now; I'm tired of snow now! And to be honest, Southerners are WAY over-itemized, whatever you want to call it. Sure you've got your Bud' loving rednecks, your good ol' boys, hillbillies, etc. but everyone else is okay, really. And I probably don't notice it, but I may have a slight accent now 0.0**

**I did something pretty funny to my friend Greg yesterday. We were sneaking around this pond sort of thing by the development I live, and it was super windy out, so we were going to try to make a kite out of all the garbage over there. So badass, right…I was kidding, not really . And my friend found a piece of cardboard in the water, and couldn't get it out. So he walked down and tied it to some string. My sister dared me to corndog him, and for those of you who don't know what that is, it's like kneeing someone from the back between their legs; I've gotten corn-dogged before, believe me. So I snuck up behind him, and got him. He fell into the water, cursing and stuff. And just because the weather's pretty nice here, doesn't mean the water is…so half of his body was soaked, while the other was dry (kind of like Two-Face). Little did I know, his phone he got for Christmas was on the damp side, oops; but luckily it still works? **

**Either way, he said he's going to get payback, so I've got to watch out…**

**So, I will try to update soon, but like I said, I've got math tutoring now.**

**See-ya!**

**~iGwyn12**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ellalncarnate: Yeah, thanks. I wasn't really sure what to do with that part, so I left it the way it was. But either way, thanks. I'm glad you said that I'm doing okay with the romantic stuff, I feel awkward writing it. **

**Pepperoni Zebra: Thanks! I'm glad you like it.**

**HungerGamesLuver13: Lol, yep it is pretty cute, if I do say so myself.**

Chapter Ten: Fears from the Past Return

Percy felt water bumping up against his feet. He yelped, pulling his feet back and looking over to his side; Annabeth was gone. In her place was a piece of notebook paper under a small stone, which he picked up and unfolded it. A note was written on it that read,

_Percy,_

_I'm leaving you. I just can't do this anymore, and I've decided to join the Hunters. You barely talk to me anymore, and I don't know why. You've been too busy playing solider, and I'm tired of it._

_Goodbye, _

_Annabeth_

Percy's eyes stung with tears, what was she talking about? He needed to talk to her, now. Percy rolled onto his stomach, pulling himself onto his feet. For some reason, it felt warmer as he walked up the hill to camp, and then he saw why. The camp, the whole entire forest as well, was engulfed by flames, people were running around frantically, trying to evade the monsters and armored troops killing anything that moved. Percy tried to move his feet, but they were rock heavy. Someone was walking towards him; he had a familiar looking sword dangling from his belt-Backbiter.

The figure let out a steely laugh, "I have you now, Perseus Jackson." The silhouette glowered, but that didn't hide the golden eyes that belonged to Kronos.

"Kronos." Percy growled, he didn't understand, how did he return so quickly?

"Saying my name won't stop this, we are in control now. We have crippled the gods, and they _will _fall. By killing off the demigods, they won't stand a chance." Kronos turned his back to Percy, "Kill the centaur!"

"No!" Percy bellowed as he saw the figure of a centaur fall to its knees. He reached into his pocket, Riptide was gone. The titan laughed, turning back towards Percy.

"Looking for this?" He clicked the pen, and it turned into a sword. He tossed it into the air; it flipped a couple of times, and landed back into the titans' hands, point facing towards the ground. "There's nothing you can do, Jackson."

Kronos thrust the sword into the ground until his fist was touching the earth. The ground cracked and groaned, and a massive pit that fell into a dark abyss was below Percy's feet. He screamed as he did a free fall down the pit. He landed before the feet of Poseidon, "Perseus." The tone in his voice was hardened and serious.

He looked up at his dad, who wore a scowl on his face, "Dad, what's wrong?"

"Perseus, you have failed me. You have humiliated me before the rest of the gods. You are a disgrace to my name! You are not my son; now get out of my sight! NOW!" He bellowed.

He shoved his trident into Percy's torso, and the vision of his dad disappeared.

A new scene formed, and Percy was in an empty church. By the altar was a wooden casket with two people standing by it. He moved closer, but they didn't seem to notice him. They both had sandy blonde hair, one was a man who looked to be in his forties, and the other was a woman who also looked about forty.

"I'm going to miss mom." The woman sobbed.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to miss her, too." The man said.

Percy looked into the casket, and elderly woman was placed in it, and it faintly looked like, Annabeth, strangely enough.

Another man entered the room, but he looked only about thirty years old, "Hey, guys." He said solemnly.

"Hey, Percy." The brother and sister turned. _What are they talking about, I don't know these- _Percy trailed off when he saw the other Percy.

It was like an older version of him, how was he not aged like Annabeth?

The final vision faded again, and Percy woke up, writhing around in the sand.

"Percy? Percy! Are you okay?"

Percy staggered to his feet, only to fall back to the ground. He pinched the bridge of his nose while clamping his eyes shut, "Yeah, I'm fine." He lied.

Annabeth held his forearms to get him to look at her, "You don't look okay, c'mon, tell me what's wrong." He sighed,

"Just a bad dream, I don't want to talk about it." Said Percy.

She looked taken aback, "Okay, if you're sure." He looked into her eyes, "Yeah, I am."

Annabeth had already packed up the picnic stuff, and was getting ready to leave.

"Annabeth-wait." He chased after her.

She turned towards him, "You ready to tell me, now?"

He told the dream to her, every little detail. When he finished it, Annabeth gasped in shock from the horror-like story Percy had just told her, "Percy, that's just-"She paused, "Terrible. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm used to it." Percy replied, but Annabeth looked unsure,

"Okay, if you say so." She picked the picnic basket out of the sand, "See you around, Perce."

Percy finally had some time to himself. Well, almost. If you take away the Aphrodite girls who were stalking him from behind a boulder, then yeah, he was alone.

**Well, I know this chapter was short. I was trying to make the dream much darker, but it was hard to find the right words for it.**

**But anyway, I may not update for a while again. I've got all kinds of tests and schoolwork coming up, and it piles up pretty damn quick. And plus I've got to watch out for Greg O.O, I corn-dogged him yesterday and he said he was going to get payback. Hopefully it doesn't snow anytime soon, because he could be real sneaky and throw a snowball with some sort of surprise in the middle at me…Either WAY, I think he still likes me, even though he's a year younger than me. But, he likes my sister, because he randomly said, "Izzy is pretty." While we were playing video games O.O But I don't mind if he makes a move on her, better than the kid you lives up the street from us who used to date her (he dates all the ladies ;) ). I'll tell you more about him some other time…because that's a whole other story right there!**

**Bye people, and thanks for adding this story to your faves!**

**~iGwyn12**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, guys, Gwyn here! So…how'd you like the last chapter? Love it? Hate it? Well, here's the next chapter, I'm going to fast forward it to the day before the competition, and it's a big gap, but less work for me, huh? *dodges throwing stars*Right, not really, it's just a bunch of junk that happens during that fast forward. Enjoy!**

**Shadslayer921: Okay, so not cool to say, dude, person-whatever. First off, please don't call me an idiot; I'm a very intelligent person. Secondly, I take CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, not rude stuff like that. And thirdly, I can see you haven't read the SoN yet. Maybe you should've done that first before you called me that.**

**Kiransomers: Ha,ha I know. It's so fun! ;) And I know the dream was a little freaky, that was my goal for my chapter.**

**WritingIsMyLife426: Thank you, thank you, and thank you! **

**itsjustme(): Not a problem at all, I'll find a way. :)**

**finchelfanforever2015: I'm glad you like it, thanks!  
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**And thanks to anyone who added me or my story to their faves over the last time I updated! I really appreciate it! **

Chapter Eleven: I've got a Date with A Monster

This had been Percy's schedule for the past month: eat, sleep, train, and then repeat the next day. Something that was required to ensure that you could take the competition was camping out in the forest. During that little detail at breakfast that day, ten or so younger campers dropped out the second they heard it. Chiron reminded the remaining campers that there was no room for mistakes, "May I remind you, that this isn't for the faint-hearted. This competition will prove who the ultimate warrior is." Chatter filled the pavilion, but Chiron raised his hand to silence the hall, "Any campers who are competing, please stand up now."

A little less than half of the campers stood up, Chiron nodded in approval to the small group, "Good. We will meet at the top of the hill in a half hour. Pack everything you'll need through the night, if you're not there at nine-thirty, you are disqualified, understand?" There was a different change of tone in Chiron's voice, he sounded like he did during the war. The campers standing rushed to their cabins, and when Percy shut his cabin door and shut the curtains, he was ready to pack. He tossed in a few spares changes of clothes, a canteen of nectar, bag of ambrosia, and a wool blanket. He packed them all into his backpack, dropped Riptide into his pocket, and set out towards Half Blood Hill.

Percy could already see that there were people up on the hill. He joined them, and Chiron began to speak, "Well, this is it. I'll see you off, but after that-you're on your own." Everyone nodded in understanding, "Good luck to everyone." They began to trudge towards the woods, and Annabeth ran up next to Percy's side,

"Hey, I couldn't find you."

Percy looked down over to her, "Oh." There was a rare cloud of awkward silence that hung over them. "So, where are you going to set up camp?" Annabeth stopped walking for a few seconds, looked up at the sky, thinking,

"I'm not sure yet, I'm more worried about who's going to be camping _with_ me." She replied. If that wasn't an obvious hint, Percy didn't know what it was.

"Um…maybe you should camp with Clarisse?" Percy offered dumbly. Annabeth rolled her eyes,

"Um…I was thinking I could camp with you?" Annabeth shot back sarcastically.

"Okay, okay. You're more than welcome to!" Percy said raising his eyebrows and shooting his arms up in surrender. They were alone now, and everyone else had split up or wandered off. After they had found a decent camp site, they unloaded the gear off their backs, set up their areas, and gathered firewood for later on. It felt safe to Percy…not. He knew the woods were infested with monsters; hell, there were probably bloodthirsty beasts watching their every move. Just as that little thought slipped through his mind, the _crackle_ of twigs snapped behind him, and he looked over to Annabeth, who was squinting down at the laptop Daedalus had given her a few years back. Something prowled in the shade of the trees, and he could see the outline of wings on the creature's back. It walked on all fours into the light, showing its' mass of ugliness (AN: That's a real word…right? Never mind about that, I'll shut up now). It kind of looked like a brown bear with wings, except instead of a snout it had the orange bill of a duck. It also had razor-sharp teeth, which it bared as it moved in closer and closer towards them.

"Ahem!" Percy hissed. Annabeth slowly looked up from the screen, and her eyes got as big as silver dollars when she saw the monster.

"Oh my gods, that's a-"She thought, but stomped her foot, "A um…let me look!" Percy stomped his foot too, "Annabeth! This thing is ready to eat us alive, and you want to play, Guess that Monster?"

She didn't answer him. Instead, she dug through her pack for something. Percy growled in frustration, "That's it; I'm going for this thing!" She looked up from her rummaging mission,

"Okay, well just-fight it until I find out what it is, and then you can kill it!" She squealed. Percy shrugged and turned on his heels to face the beast,

"What now, bitch?" He teased the monster a little, but Annabeth thought differently.

"What did you say to me, Perseus?" She bellowed.

"Er…nothing! I'm going back to fighting this thing, now." He said quickly.

It had been ten minutes since Percy had begun fighting the monster. So far, no progress, and Annabeth wasn't really much help either. She was still taking her time flipping through the book, looking at every-single-solitary-page.

"Oh, oh I found it! I found it!" She was acting like a little kid, one who just found their hairy old lollipop in the back of their sock drawer, "It's a Feroun Papia!"

Percy really didn't care anymore, "Really? That's _great_; would you like me to get a sample or two?" He offered sarcastically, but Annabeth waved the joke away. The Feroun-whatever swung its massive paw at Percy's face, but he dodged it just in time; he could still feel the claws of the monster cut through the air. Percy lunged forward, causing Riptide to break the flesh and run completely through. The place the monster had once stood was replaced by a column with golden dust.

Percy clicked his sword back into its pen form, and he stretched while walking back towards the camp. Annabeth had already gone back to her laptop, "Thank you _so_ much for the help, I knew I could count on you!" Percy teased. Annabeth shut the top of the computer.

"Fine, do you want to know why I didn't help you?" She asked, "Because I know that you were quite capable of fighting it, okay?"

Percy felt stupid, of course she would think of a genius excuse to use against him.

**Yay! Chapter eleven-check! Well I have an important announcement to make; the next time I will be updating will be the fifteenth of February-my birthday. I'm going to be a teenager, thirteen to be exact. It'll be later that day, though, because my sister has to go to the dentist, and we all might go out to eat.**

**I really want The Exorcist book for my birthday, but it's doubtful, my dad doesn't want me to watch it because of the language. And I can't figure out what it is, because I know A LOT of swears. My mom doesn't mind though. So if they don't let me watch the movie, they probably won't get the book for me *boo-hoo*.**

**I wonder if my mom is going to cry like she did on my tenth birthday because I am, "Growing up so fast!" (cry-face).**

**Bye everyone, I'll see you next Wednesday!**

**~iGwyn12**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay, well this chapter I'm going to switch things up a little. Instead of following Mister Percy around, we're going to follow Annabeth for a while, 'kay? I might not think of it, but you might accidently see "Percy thought" because I'm so used to tagging along with Percy, so…**

**HungerGamesLuver13: Ahaha! Well thanks for the review. :)**

**Thank you roberto2703, finchelfanforever2015 for adding me to your favorites, and thank you to anyone else who added me a while back.**

Chapter Twelve: A Night in the Woods

The sunset seemed to have taken forever, from all the insane monster fights and whatnot. Annabeth decided that they should get a fire going right away, it might keep the beasts away, but it might just make it worse. But she knew it was worth a shot anyway. She sent Percy out to gather firewood.

"Why me?" Percy whined.

The nerve of her Seaweed Brain sometimes, he gave her a pleading look.

"Trying to make me fall prey to your charm, eh, Percy?" She asked. Percy scratched his jet black hair in confusion before finally saying,

"English, please." He replied smartly.

She shot a glare at him, "You're going to get firewood," Before he could say anything she cut him off, "Because you, Percy, are going to be a nice gentleman, okay?"

He grunted in defeat, brushed himself off, and marched deeper into the woods. Annabeth watched him leave, and when he was out of sight, she unzipped the top of her backpack. Inside was a small little flipbook full of pictures she had taken over the years. Most of them were of her and Percy together at different places-parks, his apartment, Olympus, camp…She paused at one picture; it was one of Percy, well, being Percy. He was tossing stones off the dock and into the lake, wearing a big grin on his face; Annabeth had a smile spreading across her face herself. She quickly put the booklet back when she began to hear Percy's footsteps returning.

"I'm back!" He shouted loudly while trudging towards the site. He was carrying a large armful of firewood in his arms, and plopped it onto the forest floor.

"Now get it started." She commanded.

"What?" Percy whined again.

"You heard me, Kelp Head, get it started." She flashed a smile to show him that she was just kidding, and crawled next to the firewood. "Get me my flint-thing in my backpack." She told him. Percy ran over and began to rifle through her pack. After a while, he finally found the flint, "Heads up!" He told her. Annabeth turned towards him and caught it when he threw it to her. Annabeth piled up a few pieces of the wood. She slid a rock across the flint, causing the sparks to fly and start the fire (A.N. That's probably not how you get a fire going with flint, just bear with me here). Percy sat crisscross by the fire and stared intently at it, "I wonder how Leo and those guys are doing."

Annabeth tipped her head in confusion at his thought, "What made you think that?"

"Hmm, the fire." He replied; Annabeth felt kind of stupid after that. Hephaestus being the god of fire and metalworking…Annabeth left the conversation alone after that, and settled in, "I'm kind of tired; can you-"

"Take first watch? Sure, go ahead and get some sleep." He smiled warily at her. Annabeth nestled into her sleeping bag and crashed out the minute her head rested on the ground.

**I'm really sorry this chapter was short. I haven't been in the writing mood lately; I've been too busy fending off the noobs on Modern Warfare Three. I was so frustrated today, this level twenty-three guy killed me when I was trying to get my care package and-well, you probably don't care. But I had an AH-6 Overwatch, god damn it!**

**My nana sent us treats for Valentine's Day *woot woot*!**

**I may not update again for a while, I'm kind of busy at school right now, and I need to keep my grades up.**

**Bye!**

**~iGwyn12**

**P.S. How was everyone's Valentine's Day? Mine was great, Greg got me and my sister these stuffed animal dog with little Krabby Patty candies, and my mom got me a box of chocolates. In return to Greg, I'm going to get him an Angry Birds Shirt :P .  
><strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello again everyone, did you miss me? Just kidding, well I'm going back to Percy again; it's kind of boring with Annabeth… sorry, Annabeth. Oh, and by the way, I'm really sorry on the long wait, I was suffering a Writer's Block, and my Word was down (excuses, excuses).**

**Itsmestrawberry: Yeah, I hate Word Pad, too. It's a waste of time, when I first started using it; little did I know that it wouldn't show grammar mistakes and stuff. I wish I could tell you how I got word on mine, but I'm really not sure.**

**And thank you to all the people who added me and my good ol' stories to their faves! **

Chapter Sixteen: 

Percy woke up to the sound of fireworks going off, and he grumbled to himself, "Hrmm, I'm trying to sleep here…" He almost dozed back off, but someone was shaking his shoulder, "Go away, lemme sleep."

"Percy!" Annabeth whispered.

He weakly lifted up his hand to swat her away, "Noo…" He said it like it had a million letters in it.

"Perseus Jackson," She paused, and he knew and idea just popped into her head, "Fine, sleep. But you're going to regret you slept did, Buster!"

"Fine-whatever." He moaned as he slammed his face into the sleeping bag, he could hear her walk away.

He could hear the sound of something sloshing around in a bucket, and he creaked his eyes open his eyes open to see, "Oh no-"And a bucketful of water roared onto his face, "Rah!" He said.

"Oops." Annabeth said sarcastically. She dropped the bucket by her feet, kneeled down by Percy's face, and shook her head, "Shame, shame. If only you had gotten up, we could be back at camp by now, enjoying a nice breakfast…" And with that, she resumed packing up the camp.

He willed himself to dry. Despite the fact he was dry now, he was well awake…well-with the exception of his sleeping bag. _At least I'm kind of clean… _He thought to himself as he crawled out from under his soaked sleeping bag. He found himself staring at Annabeth, and he started getting all twitchy with thoughts _Woah, woah, woah…Don't think like that! _He shook his head to get it out of his mind, but the thought still lingered a little bit.

"Heads up!" She tossed him a granola bar. He caught it midair and looked at the label: peanut butter; it reminded him of Tyson. He hadn't talked to his half-brother in a long time. Percy tore the ridged side of the packaging open, took a chomp off, and instantly felt energized. He finished it off and started to pack up his stuff.

Five minutes later or so, they were ready to leave. "Let's get going." Annabeth said, sliding her other arm under the strap of the backpack. He looked up at the sky, searching for any trace of the fireworks.

"Over there!" He said hopefully, "There's a jet line where they shot up." Percy pointed upwards in the direction of the lines, which were just a little over the treetops.

"Hmm…not a bad idea, Perce; I'll go with that." She replied.

They both kept as quiet, so they didn't alert any monsters in the area. It didn't take long to hear the sound of cheering and hollering coming from camp either.

Percy suddenly felt his foot snag back on something, and he began to do a free fall to the ground. He landed on his stomach, but that didn't stop him from sliding down the small hill that edged the borders of camp. In desperation, he grabbed Annabeth's ankle, causing her to fall and slide with him.

"Percy!" She squealed in fear as they tumbled downhill.

On their way down, they were kicking up sticks, pebbles and small stones that rolled down lazily. One of the rocks even hit Percy on the back of the head, "Ouch!" He yelped. They finally got to the bottom of the hill, and the sound of stones falling silenced, along with the screaming crowd. When they gingerly looked up to see why, they found the only reason- was them. The crowd's screaming came back to their ears, and Chiron cantered over to help brush them off,

"Children, good to see you both alive," He examined them both for any cuts and scrapes. "Nothing too bad; are you ready for your departure?" Their trainer asked. Percy glanced over to Annabeth, and saw that she wore the same look of confusion that he knew he probably had, too.

"Departure?" They both said it together simultaneously, Chiron nodded slowly.

"Yes, departure. Did you expect that we could really have some sort of competition in such a crowded place?" Chiron waited for an answer. Percy decided to just go with it, and nodded. "Annabeth?" Chiron asked.

"Er…right." She nodded as well.

Chiron seemed satisfied, "Well then. Take these," He handed him two envelopes, "You'll need these. Open them when you arrive, and Argus will be waiting by the van in an hour." And with that, he galloped away.

Even though they had no idea where they were both going, the two of them just decided to obey Chiron and pack. Percy assumed they were going to be there for a while, this didn't sound like a small, dainty, competition; so he packed his leftover AXE toiletries from Nico into his bag. He suddenly noticed that his television was producing light like when it was on, _I could've sworn I turned it off…_ He waved the thought away, and walked off. Little did he know that Nico had been sitting in his new chair, playing Modern Warfare Three.

**Voila, and it is done! I'm SO sorry for not updating in so long, a lot of school work-and other-things…**

**If I don't update again for a while, keep reminding me, and then I won't have a choice.**

**Night!**

**~iGwyn12**


	14. Chapter 14

**Back again! **

**Ally**** Jackson (): I don't mind I don't have many reviews, I'm grateful I for the ones I have; I'm glad you like it! :D Your B-Day is on the nineteenth? Awesome! Herr, herr…its k, I always get payback one way or another when it comes to noobs.**

**HungerGamesLuver13: Yeah, sorry it was. It had been written late at night by a tired me, and I wanted to update soon because I felt bad for not in so long.**

**Onlyreader24: Cheers, thanks! :)**

Chapter Fourteen: Back to the City

Percy's curiosity got the better of him. He looked back over to the T.V and started padding over. He didn't know this, but, Nico easily heard him, and quickly shadow-traveled to the front door of the cabin. He stepped out to the porch and stepped into the cabin as if he was just strolling in, "What's going on, cousin?" Nico asked casually. Percy jumped, and the Xbox controller fell onto the cushion of the recliner. A black, knotted head of hair that framed a mischievous face peered around the chair.

"Nico-um, yeah…What's up?" Percy asked back, still dumbfounded by the Xbox incident.

"Nothing much, but-why are you playin' that when you're supposed to be packing?" Nico pretended as if it had nothing to do with him.

"I wasn't!" Percy shouted.

"Alright, chill man. What's the big deal anyway?" Nico raised his hands defensively.

Percy sighed while turning the Xbox and T.V. off, "I don't know, Nico. It's just-"He looked down. "Never mind, you wouldn't understand." Percy slid the strap of his bag onto his shoulder and walked out; he could Nico chasing after him.

"Percy, what do you mean I won't understand?" Nico yelled, trying his best to keep up. Percy looked down and quietly answered,

"You just won't."

The footsteps behind him ceased.

He felt terrible for having to call off his cousin like this. He didn't want to tell his cousin that he was starting to have second thoughts on this competition, but there wasn't any turning back now. He didn't want to appear weak to anyone-not now, at a time like this. Percy hiked up to the hill where everyone was supposed to meet. He spotted the van that Argus drove right away, and slid the massive door open. He was welcomed with "Hey, Percy." And "What's going on, Perce?" He awkwardly waved and took a seat next to Annabeth, who was staring intently at the book in her lap.

Percy chuckled a little and said, "Hey, you pumped for the competition?"

He heard the engine of the van rev up, but still didn't get an answer from her.

"Hello? Annabeth-you there?" He smiled and waved his hand in front of her face; his hand constricted in pain. She had slammed his hand right in the ancient-looking book! "Ow?" He managed.

"Percy," She looked up at the roof of the car, "You should know me enough that you don't-interrupt-my-reading." She pressed a fake smile, and slowly focused her attention back on the crusty old book. He heard someone behind him snicker and flick his earlobe.

A gruff voice says, "Not your day with princess, eh?" His face flushed a cherry red and he snapped around in his seat to see who was teasing him.

Clarisse.

"Hrm…I guess not." Percy replied coolly.

Will, bow strapped to his back, popped up from the far back of the van. "Big surprise, I don't know how you guys pull that off, anyway."

"No kidding." The Stoll Brothers said simultaneously. Percy crossed his arms and decided to pass the time by looking out the window. The trees and rural features overtime melted into the city. Just then, he remembered: He hadn't actually assured his mom in person that he was okay since the fight. Percy groaned at the thought and looked back out the van window. At the corner of his eye, and he could see Annabeth inch closer to him; he pretended to not notice. He looked over to her finally, when she rested her head on his shoulder.

"What's your guess on where Argus is taking us?" Percy asked while running his hand through Annabeth's wavy locks of hair.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" Annabeth asked back smartly.

* * *

><p>"Olympus? Are you serious?" Percy said while stepping out of the van. He caught his bag, which had been tossed to him by Will. He caught it in mid-air when he heard all the scoffing from his friends.<p>

"Olympus? Are you serious?" Clarisse mocked while shutting the van door shut. They walked through the bustling streets of the city. Travis and Connor eyeballed a jewelry store, but Will grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks.

"That's right, Percy. Olympus is our destination." Will said, a little more polite than Clarisse had been. Will let go of the brothers, who both shot him a dirty finger sign; Will ignored it, though. They all walked in silence, following the direction of the skyscraper that towered above all the other ones…

**I know it was short, and I'm sorry. I've got a lot of schoolwork, tests, a dance, excuses, excuses… I started reading the Hunger Games- I'm liking it so far, it's a really good book.**

**Till' next time,**

**~iGwyn12**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hero, people of Fanfiction! I just finished the Hunger Games…wow. Probably one of the best books I have ever read…well next to PJATO, of course. Now I'm obsessed with it. The end result? Probably my precious weekend will be spent holed up in my room, with my laptop, looking at Hunger Games stuff. And I'll more than likely hiss at anyone or thing that dares come into my room.**

**Random thing but-my neighbor looks like my science teacher 0,0**

**KESSIALALWAYS: Yeah, you don't have to worry about that. Heck, I thought I wasn't adding enough of it in…**

**PurpleDress: IKR? I wish I had that kind of money lying about, my wallet is stale by now I bet. At first I was all confused about the "phone bit" but then I saw what chapter you were reviewing *face palm*.**

**Thank you SO much to anyone who added me to their faves or reviewed. It really makes me happy.**

**When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep - not screaming, like the passengers in his car.**

Chapter Fifteen: Olympus

Annabeth led them all through the entrance of the Empire State Building. The same guy who was always there, was sitting behind the security desk, reading a book. Percy leaned on the counter, "Six hundredth floor, please."

The guard looked up from his book, "There isn't one, kid." He looked back down, "Try someplace else." Clarisse mumbled something inaudible and grabbed the guard by the collar.

"Look, pal. We're here for the competition-get with the program," She growled, and released his collar from her iron fist. The guard took and old-looking key off his ring of others and gave it to her. As they walked towards an elevator, Percy mouthed _Thank you_ to him, and he nodded once. They cramped into the elevator car, just standing there. "So, nobody is going to put the key in?" Clarisse asked. They all looked at her expectantly, and she broke down and finally turned the key into the slot. The metallic doors closed open and they rode up to Olympus in silence.

The elevator dinged after what seemed like an eternity. The hot, stuffy containment of the elevator made him feel woozy, and his ADHD didn't help much, either. He could tell by the sick, green faces on everyone else that they were more than happy to get out of that elevator. The way there was fairly quiet, except for a few birds chirping and the trees rustling in the wind. As they got closer and closer to the main area of the city, the more busy the city became. A bearded man in a pale white toga pushed through to get to them, "You're the competitors?" He asked. They nodded to him and he yelled over the commotion, "Follow me to the Throne Room, please!"

Percy wasn't sure why and escort had been sent to lead them to the Throne Room; it's not like they would need him. He had been to Olympus enough times to know where it was, and the last time he had been here, it when he passed up the gift of immortality. He decided to just go with it, rather than be a pain the second he got there. Beardy entered the Throne Room. A few minutes later, he reappeared, "Lord Zeus will see you now." Percy noticed that the man had beads of perspiration streaming down his face. He didn't blame him, Zeus was pretty intimidating.

He looked down at Annabeth, "You ready for this?"

"Nope," She said anxiously.

The doors swung open to reveal the gods looking in the direction of the door expectantly. Percy was the first to kneel before the gods and bow. He heard his friends step forward and bow as well. After a few seconds, they rose up to their feet again. He could feel the piercing eyes of the gods staring them down; Percy began to feel a little uncomfortable under their gaze. Finally, Zeus spoke.

"Demigods, you have been chosen to compete in the annual Hero competition. The competition will go on for ten days; with one challenge per day. One hero will be eliminated each challenge. You have today and tomorrow to make final arrangements, rest, or take the spare time to do some last minute training. Do I make myself clear?"

It was a lot to take in all at once, but Percy bobbed his head in understanding.

"Good. You are all dismissed." Zeus wills the doors to open, and the six of them exit.

Percy jumps when he hears the doors slam behind him; jitters run up his spine. They all stand there, oblivious on what or where they were supposed to go next. The people who pass by eye them, and some people even snicker at the fact that they didn't have a clue where they were supposed to go.

"Just what we need-losers in sheets laughing at us as if we're upside down." Clarisse says, shooting a glare to a passerby. Just then, their escort reappears,

"Sorry I'm late! Please, follow me to your rooms,"

Percy and Annabeth trail behind the rest of their party at an attempt to get a little time together. Percy holds out his hand, and Annabeth takes it.

"It's nice we have some downtime." Percy said.

He hears her let out a light sigh, "Yeah," She pauses a while before saying, "What are you proposing at?"

"Oh I don't know…maybe we can run the town, get some coffee," He grins.

Annabeth smirks as well, "Well then, it's a date."

They continue holding hands when they get to the elevator, and little do they know, two rivals are watching them-Poseidon and Athena.

Poseidon smiles wryly when the elevator closes, but Athena stamps her foot on the marble floor in sheer anger. "Poseidon, please. Enough with the irritating smile." And with that, she storms off.

**TGIF People!**

**I finished reading the Hunger Games series. No words can describe how much I'm OBSESSED with it. I bought the poster for it from my school's book fair. It looks nice next to my Halo poster. I'm going to go see the movie tonight when my sis' gets home from school. Hopefully they don't bomb that movie like they did with HP and ATLA. This girl my school was wearing all kinds of Hunger Games stuff her parents bought her-straight A's in exchange for $200 worth of stuff. I almost got all A's, and I did except for this B in Social Studies. That's like-my best class!**

**I've gotta go,**

**~iGwyn12  
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	16. Chapter 16

**Man it's feels nice knowing it's the weekend. The Hunger Games movie was amazing. They didn't take out any big parts from the book, so that's a good thing. The only thing that irritated me was that Snow looked less intimidating with that beard *herr her*. I was sharing a box of Nerds with my sister, and the candies kept falling out of my hand. I saw a trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman, the queen's laugh at the end sounded like my grandma's 0,0. It was so distinct, I really thought it was her laughing really loud, no joke. Yeah, she took us to the HG, so yeah. I would've preferred just me and my sis' but my grandma offered dinner out, too. Dinner out almost anywhere usually sells well with me. Another thing is that spring break is coming up, so is this big final exam sort of thing. I need that spring break for some down time, away from writing and all that. Also, I need to really step up for this test, because it's a really big deal. In other words, I may not update in another month or so. And also I'm getting ready to wrap up this story. But don't worry, I'm definitely continuing this, I have a lot of ideas swimming in my head.**

Chapter Sixteen: A Date?

Hand in hand, Percy and Annabeth strolled through Central Park. It was one of those warm summer days but there was a light breeze that made it comfortable. Walking in silence, they found a park bench together.

"What do you think the gods have in store for us?" Percy asked. He tipped his head back and shut his eyes.

"Who knows," Annabeth sighed, "You never know when it comes to them."

An elderly woman walks in their direction, "Excuse me. Would you like me to take a picture of you two?" Percy doesn't see anything wrong with the lady, so after explaining how to use the camera on his photo, he hands her his cell phone. Percy puts an arm around Annabeth, puts on a smile, and waits. He hears the click of the camera, and tries to take his cell phone. His somewhat forced smile goes away when he realizes something is wrong with the old lady.

"Um, ma'am? Are you alright?" He sees Annabeth notices something is wrong, too. She reaches out to the lady, but she snaps at Annabeth's hand. She pulls it back just in time, and Percy steps forward.

"Hey now-" He says, anger rising. The old lady tries to bite him as well, but his reflexes are too fast. "Come on, Annabeth." He takes her by the arm.

"But Percy-what about your phone?" Annabeth asked, trying to resist the tugging of her arm.

"Hephaestus can do me a favor. Now come on." Percy leads them out of the park and to a Starbuck's. They don't talk until they're sitting down at a table with their drinks.

"Percy, what was that all about; you acted so mad at that old woman I-" She gets cut off by Percy.

"Annabeth, didn't you notice how she acted? She wasn't an old woman, she was a monster of some kind!" Percy shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

"And you would know," Annabeth countered, sipping her coffee.

"Are you even hearing me? She tried biting both of us; do any other people you know do that?" Percy shouted louder this time, and people were starting to look their way. After a few seconds of not getting an answer, he waved her away and looked outside at the summer day. Was she blind? That woman was a monster, no doubt about it.

"I'm going to the art supplies store. Meet me back here in an hour." Annabeth stomped out of the shop, and he watched her walk down the street. Percy, dumbfounded of what to do for that period of time, sat there for a few minutes. He noticed that a few tables over, was a hazel-eyed brunette eyeballing him. Percy began to feel uncomfortable under her gaze, and left Starbuck's before she invited herself over to his table.

He shoved his hands into his pockets, checking for Riptide. Of course it would be there, obviously, but it was an impulsive thing he did when he felt uneasy. The creepy old woman and stalking girl was getting to him. He walked past stores, but backtracked when a flash of colors caught his eye. In front of him was a massive toy store, it had to have at least two or three floors. He stepped into the store, his leather sandals squeaked across the shiny granite floor. When he opened the second pair of doors, chatter from kids flowed through his ears. He felt a little awkward, being in a toy store at his age. He wandered aimlessly about the store, looking for something that would strike his fancy. Percy did when he got to the second floor.

A bouncy house that took up the entire floor filled his vision.

"Oh my gods…" Percy tore his sandals off and dove into the house. The multicolor of the bouncy house was setting his brain on overload, but he continued to climb higher and higher up into the bouncy house. At the very top was a flock of four or five kids, staring at him intently.

"Hey! You're too old for this!" A little girl with pigtails squealed and pointed her chubby toddler finger at his chest.

"No I'm not! Watch this!" Percy said. The kids moved out of his way, and Percy did a nose dive in the direction of a slide they were guarding. He tucked his arms in closer, and could hear the sound of the kids screaming in delight fade. He landed face first on a gym mat, but saw a pair of shoes was in front of his face. He looked up to see the nimble body of the old woman from the park. He let out a shrilly noise, or at least tried to. He crawled away on all fours, but the lady continued to follow him, "Aagh! What do you want from me? Are you a monster or what?"

The old woman seemed taken aback, "Monster? I hope I don't look that old, young man. I was just going to return your phone. I was having a slight-"She paused, attempting to find the right words, "Seizure. When I tried biting you and your girlfriend, it was nothing personal. Here you are!" She gave him back his phone with a weathered, shaky hand." Before he could apologize, or say anything at all, she had already walked off.

_Wait until Annabeth hears this_ Percy thought to himself.

**Nothing personal, right. Anyway, this chapter was super fun to write. A toy store seems like something Percy would go to, right? :3**

**Night!**

**~iGwyn12**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys, don't have many announcements this chapter. I'll just respond to your reviews today then.**

**Jackson Fan Girl: Um, ok? Sorry, I guess. But I'll take a look at your story. One word of advice, before you review, you can't just say that you like or dislike something in a story without saying why or why not. Just sayin'.  
><strong>

**PercyJacksonLittleSister: Lol, you're right about the hitting/biting thing. I'll keep that in mind the next time someone has a seizure in my story. :p**

**I'm so, so sorry I didn't answer many of the other reviews from the other chapter. I would if I hadn't been too lazy to open up my e-mail. I did read them though, I'll tell you that.**

**Well now as a gift from me to you as a late Easter present, I give you this chapter.**

**Merry Hanukkah! :P  
><strong>

Chapter Seventeen: A Godly Party…Literally

After tracking down his wallet in his back pocket, Percy paid the shop owner. She gave him his change and his bouquet of flowers.

"Are they for someone special?" She was an older woman, so he didn't feel weird from the question.

He shifted the flowers so he could see her, "Yeah, actually. My girlfriend."

"Well that's very nice of you, I hope she likes them," The woman smiled, and he gave a small smile back.

He had ten minutes before he needed to be back to Starbuck's, he wasn't going to make it in time. He didn't feel like standing around and halting a taxi, so he ran into an alley. Avoiding the rabid cats and rotting garbage, he let out a whistle. Within a few minutes, his Pegasus, Blackjack swooped down into the alley.

_"What's up, boss_?" Blackjack called in Percy's head.

"Nothing much, but I need you to fly me to Starbuck's," Percy said, beginning to climb up on Blackjack.

_"Starbuck's, don't they have sugar cubes?" _Blackjack whinnied.

"You bet they do; now we really have to go!" Percy shouted as they flew higher and higher.

Percy shouted as they flew higher and higher. About two minutes later, Blackjack dropped him off in the alley behind the café. "I'll bring you out something to eat in a few. Got any special requests?"

Blackjack neighed, "_Anything with lots of sugar and carbs is fine by me!"_

Percy smirked and rubbed the Blackjack's nose, "You got it,"

Grabbing the flowers and tucking them under his arms, he sprinted out of the alley, crashing into Annabeth as a result. They crashed down on the gritty, gum infested sidewalk, and people walked around them. One of the pedestrians said,

"Hmph, freaking kids…think they own the place."

Annabeth stumbled to her feet first, "Percy! What's wrong with you, and what were you doing in that alley? And what-"She stopped talking. Percy followed her eyes, and they were staring intently at the now smashed flowers. "Percy, were those for me?" Her voice was small.

He straightened up and picked the flower petals that were stuck to him, "I don't know why you're using the past tense, but yeah. These are for you. I'm sorry I smashed them I-"The tingle of lips crashing onto his cut him off. People walking by did double-takes at them, he could see them staring at the corner of his eye. They broke off the kiss and Percy pulled the phone out of his pocket, "I don't know how to put this, er…you-were right about the old lady. She wasn't a monster after all."

The dreamy look from the kiss on Annabeth's face faded. It turned into a smug, sly smile. "I knew it!" Percy turned in the direction of the Starbuck's and tuned out Annabeth's victory speech. "For that, you've got to take me out to dinner!" Just then, an envelope fell into Percy's hand. It was sealed with a lightning bolt stamp, the symbol of Zeus. He tore it open, and pulled the message out. It read:

_Contestants!_

_You are invited to a party that I, Zeus, king of the gods will be hosting. You must show this letter at the door for entrance. If you are unable to present it, you will not be welcome in. It will be a lively party, I'm sure._

_ Sincerely,_

_Zeus _

"Hey what's this?" Annabeth asked. He heard the rustle of paper and knew that she had gotten one, too. Percy turned on the heels of his sandals,

"Oh, Annabeth? Would you like to be my date?"

* * *

><p>Percy sat on the bed that was in the center of his open-air pavilion. There was still another two hours before he had to be at the party, but it felt like he was going to be late. He decided to start by taking a quick shower. To his disappointment, there weren't showers-there were baths instead. He ran the water, and the tub filled with suds on its own. Percy closed the lid down on the toilet. Sitting down, he brainstormed what he could wear.<p>

"What am I supposed to wear? He didn't even say if it was formal or not!" Percy said out loud. His bath water stopped running on its own too? Talk about fancy. He peeled off his clothes and settled to the bottom of the bathtub. After a few minutes of soaking his body and head, he sat up and looked around for shampoo. Over to the right of him on the wall, were bottles of his favorite shampoos. He grabbed the bottle of Phoenix, popped the cap open, and squirted the dark blue liquid into his free hand. He set the bottle down and started to run the goo through his hair; after it turned into suds, he rinsed it down. Percy grabbed a bar of soap, tore off the wrapper, and washed down. He stepped out of the bath when he heard someone call his name,

"Percy? Where are you?" It was Annabeth. He panicked. Where were the towels in this place? He spotted a button on the wall, so he slammed it desperately. A drawer of heated towels popped out; he grabbed one and wrapped it around his waist just as Annabeth walked in. "Um…sorry. I guess I should've knocked."

"Pfft…you guess." Percy smirked to show he was just joking. He walked out to get his shaving stuff out of his bag, and he heard Annabeth sigh.

"I was just going to ask if you could help me pick an outfit for the dance," She said this as if there was nothing wrong with a guy helping a girl pick out an outfit. Percy nearly dropped his can of shaving cream.

Percy slowly turned towards her, "You're joking right?"

**Ah…the art of boyfriends helping girls pick out what to wear. :P**

**Again, I hope everyone had a nice Easter; my family and I had a nice dinner together. I got a bunch of candy and stuff. Yesterday I went shopping, too. And after many long months…I changed my profile picture *queue the dramatic churchy AaAh*. It's Nyan Cat :3 I bought the Nyan Cat bracelet at Hot Topic. As soon as I saw it I took it off the shelf…it was worth the seven bucks. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Hero again, my favorite people! Wishing everyone a happy Friday! Did I tell you guys that I saw Titanic? Lol, me and my sister were sinking down in our seats when the um…windows got all foggy. **

**Did I tell you guys that I'm OBSESSED with ATLA (Avatar: The Last Airbender)? Of course not, I'd remember if I did! I heard about the series premiere for Korra, and fell into addiction, again. The story about it? Well, you're just going to have to read this chapter and find out at the end…**

**Can't wait for the new episode tomorrow, it sounds like it's going to be awesome.**

**kookiie: First review for last chapter! :D You won't be disappointed with this chapter, I hope. **

**Anon: Lols! :)**

Chapter Eighteen: A Godly Party…Literally II

"You heard me right, Perce." Annabeth said to him while massaging the shaving cream onto his face. She rinsed the razor under the tap and started running it across his face. He started fussing right away. "Oh quit whining, you!" She swatted his hand away when he tried to take the razor back. He huffed like a five-year-old and let him shave his face.

He pursed his lips and managed to finally say something, "You know, if you're trying to persuade me-you're S.O.L." She daintily placed the razor on the counter,

"Fine then, shave your face yourself," She was just about to walk out, he gently grabbed her wrist.

"Wait," He picked up the razor and set it in her hands, "You can shave my face, but honestly…I'm not going to be much help with the outfit."

She sighed, "Alright." Annabeth finished shaving his face. "Now _I'm _going to get ready. See you at the party then?"

He stood up and gave her a peck on the cheek, "Okay. See you later." She ruffled his hair before leaving the room.

The pavilions for all the competitors were arranged into a very neat and precise order. They were either next to each other or on the other side of a clean cut street. They all were identical, too, and Annabeth's was right across from Percy's. Once she got inside, she stepped into the bathroom. While the bath was running, she picked out a rose-like scented bar of soap to use. She stripped off her clothes, and stepped in.

Annabeth wrapped a towel around her body and started rifling through her suitcase. She hadn't packed for this!

"Caught in a little trap?" Annabeth jumped and turned in the direction of the voice. Leaning on a marble pillar, was Aphrodite.

Her face flushed a hot pink, "Um, n-no. I'm fine lady Aphrodite." Out of thin air, Aphrodite pulled out a ruffled, night blue dress. She tossed it to her,

"Keep it; you'll need it again." Aphrodite flashed a pearly white smile.

"Thank you!" Annabeth ran her hand along the fabric. Aphrodite nodded a couple of times, and faded out of vision. She stepped into the dress, and she wondered what Percy was going to pull together...

Percy kicked his bag and officially gave up. He had nothing decent to wear. He wished he could pull off a white T-shirt with a tie drawn on it. He considered this as a plan B, but for now, he was going to ask a god for a favor.

Running through the streets of Olympus with only a towel on was probably the easiest way to get attention. But that was the complete opposite of what Percy wanted right now. People tried covering their smiles, others didn't bother. Percy ran under an arch that led to all of the Gods' houses. He hunted down the one that was his father's; it had all kinds of amazingly detailed pictures of sea life and shells incrusted into the columns. Two Mermen stood guard in front of the door, "Um…excuse me, do you mind me going in?"

Their tridents crossed together and made a barrier, "There is no entry into Lord Poseidon's villa." One of the Mermen said in an official tone. The other nudged him and mumbled something, he turned a shade of red and spoke again, "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know-but go in, sir."

"Um…it's really okay, dude." Percy tried reassuring him as casual as possible, but the guard just shook his head as if what he did deserved some sort of punishment. He shrugged it away and jogged inside the house, but house was a bit of an understatement. It was a pavilion, like most of the buildings, but there were corridors upon corridors that led to guest rooms, bathrooms, and all kinds of other rooms. "Hello? Dad, are you around?" He poked his head into another room while saying this.

A booming voice echoed through the whole house, "Who's there?" All of a sudden, his dad came into view, "Percy? What are you doing here? You should be getting ready."

Percy looked down and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah…about that. I have nothing decent to wear, and I was wondering…" Poseidon started nodding, and randomly started breaking out into laughter.

He was nearly rolling on the floor with laughter by the time a minute came around, "Me? Help you?" He paused to laugh a little more, "You must me joking, please tell me you are, please!" Percy kept a blank face and tried not laughing himself. "Oh. Well this is…." Poseidon trailed off and waved Percy over to follow him.

After walking for what seemed a half a mile, they stopped abruptly in front of a set of double doors. Poseidon set his hand on the wall, and a keypad popped up. "Type in whatever you want, open the door, and it will be there." Poseidon said, setting a massive hand on Percy's shoulder, "I'll see you at the party." He walked away, and Percy heard the front doors shut.

_Whatever I want? _Percy thought to himself. Percy typed in boxers, black ankle socks, dress shoes, jeans, a white dress shirt, a black tie, and a leather belt. Percy opened the door and right there was everything he had asked for, folded neat and tidy on a shelf. He took them out of the closet and shut the door. Percy stepped into one of the guest bedrooms and took the towel off; after he got dressed, he headed back towards his pavilion. He dug through his bag one final time, and rubbed some after shave on his face. Percy grabbed his letter and stepped out onto the front steps, but a wind picked up the invitation. "No!" Percy howled, and sprinted after the paper.

He shoved through crowds, hopped fences and ran through gardens. But he was too late, the letter wailed over the metal fencing around the perimeter of the city, and fluttered down to the city. Rage built up, he smashed his fists on the posts. "Gods damn it!"

_To be continued…_

** 'Kay, so the story with Avatar, is that my sister and I got the first season for Christmas from my aunt. I was so sure of myself that I would hate it. Why? When I was in elementary, I saw the comics in my library and had seen commercials for it. I thought, "Please, that's for complete nerds." Hey, the nerds **_**were **_**the only ones who really watched it. Back to the Christmas thing-now, my sister watched the first season, and continued watching the rest of it on Netflix, while I still knew I would never like it. She finally sat me down to watch it, and that show totally blew my mind! So through the winter, and spring, I would sit around for hours on end watching it. By the beginning of summer, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Where did I get my fix for more? Fanfiction. **

** I had been on Fanfic' before, but I wasn't really liking it. Now, it's most of my life. :P**

**That's my rambling for now, sorry!**

**~iGwyn12**


	19. Chapter 19

**EllaIncarnate: SO true! I think I'd be an Earthbender…lols. But no, I haven't heard your Amon theory. But sure, I'd love to hear it! A lot of people think it's Ozai and I'm all like O,O. There is a really awesome ATLA writer, actually. Her name is Light-Eco-Sage. She writes a lot of lemons, but there are a few here and there that are clean. Did you see the most recent episode? I got all excited during the flashback. :)**

**CheekyDragon: It's 'kay, I don't mind. :]**

**PercyJacksonLittleSister: Her, her…I don't know what else to say…**

Chapter Nineteen: A Little Help from Hermes

_About a half hour after Percy loses the letter…_

Percy sat on a stone bench with his head in his hands, "Gods damn it!" He repeated.

"Hmph…you shouldn't use our names in vain. You can get vaporized for that." A male voice said. Percy looked up in the direction of the voice. Hermes was standing at the base of a marble column. He was hiding something behind his back.

"Lord Hermes." Percy stood up, "I'm sorry."

Hermes waved away Percy's apology and put on his usual weasel-like smile, "You look like you're in a lot of trouble." He pulled a piece of paper in his direction. Percy gasped, "Is that-"

"The invitation? You can bet on it." He grinned a little more. Percy scowled and grabbed for the invitation, but Hermes pulled it away at the last second, "No, no, no. You have to promise me something, eh?"

Percy's scowl deepened, "Okay-okay. Just tell me, so I can get to that party." Hermes handed him the paper,

"Win this. My money is on you, of course." He turned a corner and was gone. Percy followed a huge wave of people parading towards a building on the top of a hill; he assumed that was where the party was. It seemed like there were a million steps before you actually got to the top of the hill. He was planning on charging through everyone, but they stepped aside when he passed through. When he was facing the door, he paused, and turned. They were staring, just staring. Then suddenly, the crowd started cheering, he smiled and waved to them. What looked like an usher was standing by the door,

"Please present your invitation." He said. Percy thought his voice was so dull and boring he could easily pull of a robot for Halloween. Percy carefully handed it over, as if it was a bomb waiting to explode. He had already lost it once; he didn't need to repeat that. The doors swung open and he stepped inside. Percy was inside a hallway lined with statues wearing Greek armor. As he got farther down the hall, he could hear music blaring through speakers, people screaming and shouting. Through the entryway, he could see balloons flying across the room. But once again, room was an understatement, but now it was even more.

The whole cathedral-sized "room" was circular shaped; with polished stone floors, and windows that circled all the way around. Right across the room was a balcony, and most of all, a very accurately painted ceiling. He wandered some more, and he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned and saw the face of Poseidon, "Well, son? Are you enjoying it so far?"

Percy nodded, "Yup, but what do you mean so far?"

Poseidon shrugged and looked like he was staring at something. Percy turned in the direction he was looking in. Then Poseidon started speaking again, "Somebody usually spikes the punch by now…"

He snorted at his dad, "Yeah? And how would you know?" Poseidon furrowed his eyebrows.

"How would I know? I've drunk enough of it!" Poseidon beamed and started to walk towards the buffet tables. Percy continued his search for Annabeth, which was almost an impossible task by now. He couldn't find her, so he decided to check the balcony for any signs of her. Percy stepped out, but there was no sign of her. _Was she too nervous to show up?_ He thought to himself. He started to head back inside, but did a double take when he saw a flash of blue in the corner of his eye. Percy fully turned, and saw that this was in fact her.

He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she turned before he could. Percy's breath hitched at the sight of her dress, "Annabeth…you look-"She smiled.

"Pretty? Beautiful? Ravishing?" She smirked.

Percy forced himself to answer her, "Uh…all of the above."

A slow song started to play, "Well? Aren't you going to ask me to dance?" Annabeth asked.

Percy felt a wave of nausea churn in his stomach, "I wasn't planning on it. You know how terrible I am at dancing."

She extended her hands out to him, and he took them. They started circling slowly, and Percy was saying to himself, _Don't step on her feet, Don't step on her feet, Don't step on her feet…_Just then, two people rushed in their direction. He broke away from Annabeth, and saw that it was a cameraman with a reporter, "Um…who are you?" Percy asked.

The lady-reporter flashed a pure white smile etched with maroon red lipstick, "Why, I'm Octavia Odele, Olympus T.V.'s head reporter!" He looked at Annabeth, eyebrows arched. "Right." Percy stretched the word out like it had a thousand I's in it.

"We were wondering if I could get an interview from the both of you; for the competition bit?" Octavia flashed another partially-blinding smile.

Percy mentally rolled his eyes, were the reporters blind or something? "Could it wait, please? I'm trying to spend some time with my girlfriend." He gave Annabeth a reassuring smile, and she blushed a little. Octavia clasped her hands together and sighed dreamily.

"Oh! A demigod romance! So cute!" She squealed. Percy had to give her credit, she was doing a good job of flattering them; flattering them so she could get that interview. "Please reconsider, it will only take a few minutes!"

Percy wrapped his arm around Annabeth's shoulder and started to walk back inside, "Thanks, but no thanks. Now we really need to go back to the party." He said politely. Just then, the song they had been dancing to ended, and it went back to blaring party music.

"You know," Annabeth started, "They're going to attack us with cameras tomorrow."

Percy nodded,"Mmm…Who knew that this thing was such a big deal?"

**You're probably wondering why the people stepped aside. It's because he's Percy-Freaking-Jackson! And by the way, I know Octavia is a name from **_**The Hunger Games **_**and blah, blah, blah. It's ALSO my sister's middle name, so, this chapter is kind of dedicated to her. **


	20. Chapter 20

**The twentieth chapter! *Woot woot***

**Heehee: I noted towards the end of the last chapter that I did not take it from **_**The Hunger Games**_**. Even though one of the prep team members was named that, and I'm also quite aware it was on there. My sister's middle name is Octavia, and it's Greek, so I threw it in there.**

**PJATOluver: Thank you very much! :)**

**I LOVE FINNICK: I know, **_**The Hunger Games **_**is a really good book. I can tell that you love Finnick, too, I'm not sure how. :P**

**EllaIncarnate: It does seem like the logical thing to think, good idea! I don't have many theories on Amon. But I've been thinking about one thing: When Katara is going to pass away. In "The Fortune Teller" episode, remember how Katara kept asking what her future looked like? Well one of the things the fortune teller told her was that she had her fourth grandchild while passing away in her sleep. That sounds like it's going to be somewhat soon, right? One, Tenzin and Pema already have three children, and Pema is pregnant with her fourth child, AND, she's well into her pregnancy. I'd say more, but, the comment response is already pretty lengthy. But still, I enjoy talking about this with you! :)**

**Jellie Smiff: A new reviewer! And thank you! **

**Happy twenty, everyone! This story has come so far, and it wouldn't have without you wonderful people!  
><strong>

Chapter Twenty: Late Night Dining

Percy shouldered the doors open, with a laughing Annabeth in his arms, he was even laughing a little, too. "That was the _best_ party ever!" She shouted. It was well past midnight, since Annabeth kept talking and asking him to dance. "Perce! Put me down, before you drop me!" Annabeth squealed with delight.

He smiled a toothy grin, "Me? Drop you?" He tilted her backwards, and she screamed in surprise. She playfully slapped his arm, and she squirmed enough that he swung her back and set her down. Percy extended his hand out, asking her to take it. She took it, and they started to make their way down the many steps. But a seemingly genius idea popped into his head, "Wait a second!" He looked over to the railing, and sat down on it. "Who needs stairs when you have-"He gestured, "A bannister!" Percy slid down on it, leaving behind a gaping-mouthed Annabeth.

"Wuh-Percy!" She screamed, taking off down the steps after him, "You're going to get in trouble!" He got to the end of the railing and hopped off.

"Come on! Try it!" He encouraged.

She reluctantly sat on the edge of the bannister, and slowly started sliding down. Annabeth did it slow enough that she could put the brakes on quick if she had to. Percy was just about dying of boredom until she finally got to the bottom of the stairs, "It's about time…I think I was just about to wither up and die if you took any longer." Percy teased. Annabeth sighed and tugged at the straps of the heels she had been wearing.

"Ugh. Hold, please." She smiled sweetly and shoved them into his arms. Percy mocked her "Ugh" and asked,

"You hungry?"

Percy tugged Annabeth's arm as they wandered the nearly empty streets. "I don't think we're going to have much luck, Percy." Percy shook his head,

"C'mon, Annabeth! You've just gotta believe!" He said sarcastically, "And I think we found our spot," He leaned so his face was next to hers, and pointed, "Right-there." He was pointing to a hot-dog styled cart, but instead of it being labeled "Hot-Dogs" it read "Gyros". "Gyros- it sounds pretty interesting."

Annabeth looked up at him, "What? You've never had a _gyro_ before?" He glanced at her, then back at the stand,

"Nope." He stated frankly.

Percy took out his wallet, and Annabeth snatched it up, "You'll just have to try one, then." She walked bare-footed over to the vendor, demanding two gyros. He overheard them talking,

"You're not serving? Why not?" She shouted angrily.

"I'm cooking them for daytime customers, and I need all the sandwiches I can make." The cook said, not looking up from his sandwich building.

"But he-"Annabeth raised her voice a little louder, "Has never had one before!" The vendor finally looked at her, wearing a face of shock. He wrapped the two sandwiches in foil,

"Here! Take them! Take them!" He cried, shoving them into her hands, "Before I have a fit! What type of human being hasn't had a GYRO before?" He started rambling in-tangible Greek and continued making sandwich art. She walked back with two sandwiches,

"And that's," She set a gyro in his hand, "How you get a sandwich for free." They walked in the direction of a park they knew of that was at the edge of the city. After finding a bench, Percy gingerly and slowly un-wrapped the foil on his sandwich. He heard Annabeth sigh beside him, she was quiet for a while, and finally said, "Why didn't you choose immortality?" Percy didn't know how to answer.

"I…there were more important things than immortality. All those unclaimed demigods were first. That's what Luke would've wanted me to do." Percy replied, doing his best to word himself carefully. They ate in silence, and Percy went over to toss his tin foil. He was about to leave the park, but turned and glanced over his shoulder, "I didn't choose immortality-because I wanted to be with you."

Dragging his feet and doing his best to keep his eyelids open, he made his way to his temporary house. Why would she ask that? Percy finally made it to his bed, and sleep found him quickly, but Annabeth's question still weighed down on him. Little did he know that Annabeth had snuck inside and sat down next to him. Taking his hand in her small one, she lightly caressed it, so she didn't wake him up. Her eyelids began to feel heavier and heavier, too, and she rested her head on the bedside. Annabeth slowly joined him in sleep.


	21. Chapter 21

**Wow, this story is ending fast. **

**xxKeliosxx: Thank you!**

**PercyJacksonLittleSister: I know, people always seem to give him his immortality in Fanfic. And I know it's their story and all, but really.**

**: Thanks a lot for that. I definitely agree with the whole mush thing. And I don't mind some mush occasionally, don't get me wrong. But a lot just makes the story way too saturated with it. Lls, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, perfect comparison! :) Thanks for the awesome review!**

**Jellie Smiff: As a matter of fact, gyros are a real Greek sandwich. I've tried one before, and they're really good! And thanks for the grammar comment, I'm glad that it's good.**

**So get this. In reading class, we're reading **_**Where the Red Fern Grows**_**. We got to the part where the dogs die, and a bunch of people started crying, even my teacher. She made me read the part when Little Ann dies, and I could barely read because my voice was so caked with emotion. :'( My teacher barely could either; she kept sniffling and sobbing to herself. And to make it worse…I started my period when I got home. **

**FUUUUUU-**

Chapter Twenty-One: Final Preparations

Percy's eyes fluttered open, and the scratchy feeling of sleepy sand scratched the side of his eyeballs. He smeared them away from the left eye with his left hand, but couldn't with his right. Someone, or something was holding it. He glanced down, and Annabeth was clutching onto it in her sleep. Percy slowly pulled it out of her grip and gently shook her with it.

"Annabeth," He shook her shoulder with a little more force, "Annabeth, wake up." He continued to shake her, and she finally opened her eyes and showed off a glare that could kill.

"Say my name again, and you're dead." She hissed.

He raised his arms in surrender, "O…'kay. I'm starting to regret I did anyway." Percy replied sharply.

Just then, the massive front doors opened, and the bearded man who had led them through the streets of Olympus yesterday tripped inside.

"There will be a breakfast for anyone who wishes to join; it will be in the ballroom. The same one that you went to yesterday for the party." He stated. He turned and left quickly.

"I hope that guy gets paid well, for all running around he has to do." Annabeth said, still staring in the direction of the door.

"Mmm…we should go, I'm starving anyway." Percy stood up. "I'm going to go get ready. I'll see you there?"

Annabeth stood, too, "Yeah, I'll meet you there."

They gave each other a light hug, and Percy watched her leave. He took a quick bath, picked out a mint green and black striped T-shirt, jeans, and his converse. Percy stepped outside, and a light summer breeze blew through his hair. His stomach began to snarl, and he knew he had to get to breakfast, before it got any ideas.

It took a lot longer to get to the breakfast. One, he had at least five camera crews after him. Two, people wanting autographs. And three…fan girls. Before he finally got inside he heard a high pitched voice scream, "I LOVE YOU PERCY!"

"Oh my gods!" He muttered to himself, still shaky from the attention overload. But the aroma of many breakfast meats calmed him down, and he followed the smell. He was led to the main room that held the party from last night, and it looked a hundred times cleaner. It was free of passed out people, ballons, and most of all, camera crews. It was all replaced by a long dining table completely made of marble, with gold accents on it. Across one of the walls was a table with silver platters and trays stacked sky-high with food. Percy was about to sprint over, but noticed he wasn't alone. Sitting at the table, were his soon-to-be opponents, glaring at him. Even Annabeth was wearing an intimidating face. They already had filled a couple of plates each, so he went over to do the same.

Sitting down in a spare seat, he heard nothing but the clank of silverware scraping across plates and heavy chewing. Percy started the slowly chew his food, "So…" He trailed off when the glares returned. In the distance, the heavy entrance doors opened. A more official looking messenger than the bearded man appeared, he was holding a small scroll. He quickly stopped in his tracks, unrolled the scroll, and began to read the message out loud,

"Competitors, before you begin your daylong training, you are required to attend an interview. Please answer each question sincerely and honestly. Present yourselves properly, dress nice." He marched off again, and everyone but Percy went back to eating. _Seriously? They're going to make us dress up again? _Percy thought.

Later on, Percy went "home"; still slowed down a little by spectators. He changed into his suit from the night before, paced around, and waited. They hadn't given them any information on where to go. Just then, someone knocked a few times, and it echoed through the spacious room. Percy walked over to the door, and opened it. A male reporter stood under the frame of the door.

"Mister Jackson, you're needed at the interview station," He said in an official-like tone.

Percy shrugged, "Okay, take me there, please." The reporter nodded. He led Percy through the bustling morning markets and the clean-cut neighborhoods. Percy didn't think much of the reporter; he looked like any other that you could find on _CNN _or _The Today Show_. If you took away the scald mark that ran across the back of his neck, that is. "How did you get that burn?" He spilled out.

"Maybe I'll tell you later, like, never." The reporter spat bitterly, and left Percy in front of a building before he could press anymore questions. He turned, and it was like a fire had been ignited in the man's eyes, "I'll meet you in conference room five-I don't want to here anymore questions about," He gestured to the back of his neck, "This." Percy's face burned, and he looked down at his feet to avoid eye contact with him.

"I'm sorry, man." Percy said; he was comfortable saying that to the guy. He did only appear a few years older than himself. Though he could be a minor god, that was a possibility as well. "I really didn't mean to uh, you know…" He trailed off. The reporter's rage-torn face softened up, only slightly, though.

"It's alright. I guess I was just tired of people asking, you know?" He sighed, and held out his hand, "I'm Alec." Percy cautiously shook his hand, still unsure of his sudden change of heart. "I got it from the battle of Manhattan, I was one of the teams of minor gods with the job of protecting the elevator entrance…I guess I didn't do a very good job. Lucky for me, I was the only one on my team that managed to survive. My brother was with me, but, he didn't make it." Alec clenched his eyes shut, "I couldn't sleep for as long as I can remember. My brother's face, just…wouldn't go away. I felt furious with, with everyone." He continued to keep his eyes shut while he kept telling the harsh story. "I guess I feel I should thank you. After all the heroes who have rose and fell over the centuries I've been a god, you've risen higher." Without saying anything more, he waved Percy to follow him again.

Percy was taken aback; he had no idea the impact he had done on just a single person. It made him feel good inside, in a way. Alec led him inside a room with a stout, cherry leather sofa with an interviewer's chair standing across from it. "Well, this is where I must leave you, Percy. Your interviewer will be with you soon. But I hope I meet you again in the future." Alec forced a small, sad smile and gently shut the wooden door behind him. Percy waited for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes until a stranger stumbled into the room.

"Whoops…sorry I'm late there was a buffet, and-"He belched, "I guess it seemed more important than this interview." Percy clenched his fists, clinging onto both his pant legs. This guy reminded him too much of Gabe, his old stepdad. "I see I have aggravated the great Pablo Jacks." And Mr. D.

"Why are we even having this interview," Percy hissed, "If you don't even have the decency to learn my name?"

"Whatever, just answer the questions, and blah, blah, blah." He waved his papers in the air slightly and plopped into the chair. He dug through his pockets with his grimy hands and tossed him a microphone that could clip on. Pressing the "record" button, he began to speak. "This is Martha Anagnos, reporting for Olympus television." Percy had to puff out his cheeks and hold his breath to keep from laughing at Martha's name. He must've gotten that a lot, and he narrowed his eyes at Percy, "I'm here live with Percy Jackson, who will be competing against five other demigods in the Warrior Competition." He shot Percy another nasty look and continued, "So, Percy, what made you want to enter the competition?"

Percy thought for a moment, "Well. I had just recovered from a run-in with a Manticore, and needed a way to regain my strength, so this was the perfect way to."

"Did you struggle, considering the fact you were in an accident?"

"Yeah, it was on the bitter side of work, since I was more weak than usual." Percy replied, being careful to word himself correctly.

"Did anyone inspire you to enter the competition, then? Perhaps someone who nursed you back to health that you wanted to payback to?" Martha asked probingly.

"Well…my girlfriend-"Percy was cut off by Martha.

"Your girlfriend, isn't she Annabeth Chase?"

"Yes, she is." He said calmly.

"How are your relations with her?" He prodded.

"What does this have to do with me and the competition?" Percy asked, anger returning.

"Just answer the question, young man." Martha's tone told him that he was irritated, as well.

"I'm not answering any questions that have to do with my romantic life, thank you." Percy was on the verge of losing his temper now.

"Just answer the question, Mister Jackson." Martha's was voice higher than his last comment.

"This interview is over…Martha." Percy growled.

"This interview _isn't _over, until I get my answer." He snipped. Percy jiggled the handle on the door, locked.

"It _is _over." Percy nearly shouted. Slamming his shoulder and shaking the handle simultaneously, he attempted to break through the door. After about five minutes of wailing on the door while Martha reassured his listeners (if he even had any at this point) through his microphone, the door turned into chunks of wood. And despite his shoulder being raw and bruised, he staggered through the doorway. "And the last time I checked…Martha was a girl's name." Percy tore the clip-on microphone off and dropped it on the floor behind him.

**That's some bad ass bad-assery, if you ask me. The only thing I can do is the credit card hack, and then kick the door dramatically. It's the only way to steal my mom's candy stash! O,O**


	22. Chapter 22

**Okey-dokey, before anyone freaks and says I'm cheating and copying from **_**The Hunger Games**_**, wait a second. I'll admit, it did inspire me a little for my training thing, but it's not like there are going to be evil Gamemakers with cool beards are going to be watching them.  
><strong>

Chapter Twenty-Two: Training

Percy slammed the front doors of the Olympus T.V. building behind him, "Stupid Martha…" He grumbled more rude things under his breath, and noticed Annabeth sitting on the steps in her dress from the night before, "Hey, I didn't notice you there." She didn't acknowledge him. He sat down next to her and gently cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head towards him, "What's wrong?" He asked when he saw the sad look on her face.

"I can't believe they asked me about our relationship." She hung her head.

Percy nearly burst with rage, "What? They asked you, too?"

She looked up, "Yeah, so I left the room."

He sighed, "We should just forget about it and get to the training." He walked Annabeth back to her house, and he quickly changed inside his. He tossed on his outfit for breakfast, but grabbed his training armor, too-along with Riptide as well, of course.

"Percy!" Someone was pounding on the door, "Let me in, man!" It definitely wasn't Annabeth, she rarely called him "man". Could it be?

"Grover! What's up, dude?" He said when he saw his best friend's face. They slapped each other on the backs a couple of times.

"I've got some training to do, want to come?" Percy asked.

"What do you think my answer is going to be?" Grover replied eagerly. Percy already knew where the Training Center was, Annabeth had showed him tons of times when Olympus was under construction. But he didn't know what the final product of it looked like. When he had been there, most of the stuff was covered with white sheets. But now he got to see it unveiled. There were racks of almost any melee weapon you could think of, archery ranges, obstacle courses, two boxing rings that were side by side, and lastly, live people you could duel with. "Woah." Was all the two of them could say. The equipment alone left them speechless, but the structure left them with their mouths gaping. It was all made of glass, columns and all. The glass was tinted so you couldn't stalk the people in the showers, but everything else you could see through. Even the paparazzi crews of Olympus attempting to get a picture of all the action going on inside. Like little kids, they ran around, looking at everything and forgot why they were really there.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is, Prissy and Goat-Boy." Percy turned to glare at Clarisse.

"I'm _so_ happy to see you, too." He snapped back.

"Let's just cut to the chase, Jackson. You, me, boxing ring, ten minutes." She shoved some blue boxing gloves into his chest. When she was out of hearing range, Percy leaned back and whispered into Grover's ear,

"You know I'm not going right? She's just all fired up, that's all."

Grover looked confused, "Why not? This is the only chance when you can hit a girl." He was right about that in a way.

"Hit a girl? Now why would you want to do that in the first place?" A feminine voice ran between Percy and Grover's heads. Percy turned and saw Annabeth sitting down on a gymnastics balance beam, wearing a light hoodie, jean shorts, and sneakers with her hair in a ponytail.

Grover sputtered, "Oh! Um, never, of course. But I'm, eh, going to check out the snack bar, later!" He clip-clopped away.

Percy tossed his boxing gloves onto the gym mat he was standing on, "Want to practice a little swordfighting?

Annabeth's lips curved into a devilish smile, "Do I?"

* * *

><p>Clicking Riptide while circling around Annabeth, Percy did some final adjustments on his armor straps. Both of their sets of eyes were locked on each other, a predator after its prey. Percy had the first strike, going right for the offensive and attempted to disarm Annabeth by knocking the knife out of her hands. She easily sidestepped this, moving light on her feet with her knife out in front of her; just in case she needed to attack quickly. Using quick footwork, she got up close and personal, and managed hacked and slashed on Percy's sword blade.<p>

"What?" Percy said, parrying back the offense. "What-are-you…doing?"

"Kicking-your-ass." She said calmly, "Deal with it." She cornered him, placed a light, but hard enough to knock him down, kick in his chest. Percy stumbled on his feet, and collapsed onto his back. Percy reluctantly took her held out hand when it was offered to him.

"I thought you beat me last time," He grumbled when he was back on his feet.

"I don't think I did enough the last time around." Annabeth said smugly.

**So sorry it's a short chapter. I need to get back to studying for my final exams at school. Even though we're taking RLA first and that's the easiest one for me, I take these tests quite seriously.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hello, hello again. Sorry it took forever to update, I've been busy. My sister had her 12th birthday party on Saturday, and then I went to see _The Avengers_ with Greg and Izzy on Sunday, so...that's my excuse. I was hoping to finish the story by the end of the month, but...I find that doubtful by now. Either way, I'm wrong often.**

Chapter Twenty-Three

_Day one, morning of competition._

Percy woke up with a start; the sound of sirens blaring in his room had jolted him awake. The day he had been itching for all summer had finally came, but he was still a little ticked off from his disturbing alarm clock.

"Gods…somebody shut that thing off!" Most of his words were drowned out, since his head was now covered with his pillow. Despite the racket, Percy could still hear the doors slam and the sirens abruptly cease. Someone shook his shoulder.

"Percy, are you awake?" It was the voice of his father.

"You don't think the alarm system woke me up?" Percy mumbled.

Poseidon removed his hand, "I guess you're right. Anyway, I was here to give you something. It will keep you safe." Percy slid his head out from under the pillow,

"Really? What is it?"

Poseidon turned and picked something up from by his feet. He was holding brand new armor, shining and ready to be worn. He grinned at Percy's reaction, "Look at the back. Go on, go on." Percy turned it, a trident had been etched on, and the outline glowed shades of green and blue. "I cannot take credit for it. Your brother made it for you."

Percy managed to utter, "W-wow."

Poseidon beamed, slapped Percy on the back, and stood. "Good luck out there, Perseus. Be safe, will you?" He shifted into a column of sea breeze and fluttered away. Regaining confidence, Percy boldly stood and started to put on the layers of the armor. He took a look in the mirror, it fit perfectly. Another person opened the door, it was Grover once again.

"Rise and shine, Perce!" He tosses Percy a hefty pack. "That's the only thing you can bring in, besides Riptide and woah-"Percy was about to question Grover on why he had cut off, and followed his eyes, he had finally noticed the armor.

"Oh, I know right? Tyson made it for me." He pretended to swipe some dust off his shoulders.

"Alright, alright, no need to brag about it, mister. Come on, there's an honor guard outside for you." Grover lightly shoved Percy out the door, following right behind him. He saw that the other five had lined up in between the guardsmen. Percy spotted Annabeth, and lined up in front of her.

"Nervous?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder slightly.

"Just a little. And you?" She replied.

"Same." They started to walk slowly as the guards began to move. Finally, after what seemed like an hour (even though it was more like five minutes), they stopped in front of what looked like a huge arena. There was enough screaming coming from it to make you partially deaf for a little while.

"Good luck, dude! I've gotta leave so I can track down some nachos or something!" Grover screamed over the crowd, running toward the ticket booth. A booming voice louder than all the others combined rose up above the racket.

"Welcome to the first ever, King of The Competition!" Percy recognized it as Alec's voice on an intercom of some sort. "First off, let's have all the competitors out on the dirt! Come on out, heroes!" He said in a cheery voice. The guards pounded their shields on the ground, and stepped aside in an orderly fashion, out of the way for them to enter the stadium easily. The six of them jogged out, and the screams, cheers, and wails gradually got louder as they got out to the very center of the stadium…

The whole world seemed to tune out. There was a rundown of background information on each of them on the stadium screen. Things like their age, height, weight, and their preferred weapon. Percy snapped out of his daze when he heard, "Percy Jackson!" come from Alec's mouth. He hadn't heard the incline of the screams when the others names were called, but the screams nearly shattered his ears when his was called. Percy nodded slightly. "If the competitors would please make their way to their designated plates at this time." Alec boomed. Percy turned and saw metal mounds that were sticking up out of the ground slightly. He walked over to one and stepped onto it. He checked the other plates to see where everyone else was standing, but seemed to freeze when he heard an automated female voice.

"Identifying…" Percy straightened up, putting his feet together awkwardly. Something scanned his eyes. "Identified…Percy Jackson. Please remain motionless; you are to be given your earpiece and contacts now." He saw a pair of clear discs get closer and closer towards his eyeballs until they finally entered his eyes. Percy also felt the earpiece get clicked into place. "Good luck." The voice said in an emotionless drone. Percy tried stepping off the plate, but an invisible barrier resisted…a force field. The field changed into a dark shade of color, enough to make it impossible to see what was going on outside his confinement. It was bad enough being last for whatever awaited him, but this? Being trapped in a claustrophobia triggering container for Gods knows how long?

"I guess I shouldn't complain." Percy muttered to himself, it wasn't like anyone was going to hear him. The commotion faded. "Oh great, it did make me deaf after all." His armor felt stickier and more uncomfortable by the minute. A beep came on from his earpiece,

"Percy Jackson? Can you hear me?" A shady sounding voice said.

"Ugh, yeah. Can you tell me why-"Percy was quickly cut off.

"This is the first test. You have ten minutes."

Percy heard the _whir_ and _click _of his plate, and he felt it begin to lower into the ground. The field around him was getting streaked with something. He squinted his eyes, and leaned in to get a better look at it. It was a shade of black and browns, and it sort of looked like chocolate cake batter. Percy nearly had a heart attack when it finally dawned on him-mud. He was completely submerged in mud.

**Mwahahahaha! Cliffhanger!**

**Well, peace out!  
><strong>

**~iGwyn12  
><strong>


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four:

_Day one, about mid-morning…_

About five minutes later of failed attempts at breaching the shield, he realized he didn't really have to. Percy began to hear the light cracking of glass, or some material similar to that. He began to notice them, too, creeping up in the shield like small lightning bolts.

"Alright, here's the scoop, Jackson. If you haven't guessed yet, you are completely submerged in mud." The creepy voice sounded off again in his headset.

"Oh, that's cute. _If you haven't guessed yet_, SERIOUSLY?" Percy wailed.

"Just-listen to me. Once you get out of that-if you get out of that, don't start wandering around. Regain your bearings, and then get out of there."

"Got it, _mom_." He said, his voice thick with sarcasm, "And may I ask who you are again?"

"We will have more time to get introduced later, out." The headset beeped loudly. The cracks were getting larger. Percy finally slammed his fist into the glass, and mud, slowly began to pour into his vulnerable containment. He made a final choice, and took in a massive breath of air.

Percy blasted through the small hole he had smashed in, getting a fair amount of cuts from the glass in the process. He could feel the sting of the mud begin to sneak up on his small wounds. He couldn't fix them now, he had his eyes clamped shut, and one of his hands were also clasped down and pinching his nostrils.

"Terrain Tracker 2000, on." The robot voice returned once again. "Built into your contacts is a small computer chip that can lead you through tough situations Not only that, but your lenses will shield your eyes." Percy didn't know how much this would help; he was swimming in mud, after all. Then he figured it out…if the tracker was in his contacts, then…Percy slowly opened his eyes. He couldn't see much, but it was a start. He needed to submerge, and fast. But how was he going to? Swimming through mud was about the equivalent of trying to swim through molasses.

_Wait_. Percy thought to himself. Mud was just dirt mixed with water right? Thinking fast, he concentrated on the mud, and more specifically, the water _in_ the mud. In his free hand, he now had a stream of cloudy colored water. He couldn't hold his breath much longer; he had his water, but had no idea what to do with it. Panic started setting in. Desperate, Percy shot the water up into the surface of the mud. A small tunnel formed, and Percy kept his grip on the water that was keeping it there. He willed more water that he used to propel himself out. Percy shot up like a rocket, briefly in air for a few seconds and was then reintroduced to the Earth. He slid in the dirt a few feet then went to a complete stop. His face burned from his make out with the ground. While coughing and spitting up dirt, Percy looked at himself-he was caked head to toe in mud.

Scoffing furiously, Percy mumbled, "That's nice." He felt his backpack still strapped onto his back, which was a relief to him.

"Hey? Disembodied voice in my ear? Now would be a really awesome time to get me out of this place." This _place_ was nearly pitch black, and he couldn't see five feet in front of him. Percy took his pack off and did his best to search through it in the dark. He felt something that seemed like a flashlight, and when he searched for a switch, he found one. Clicking it forward, the space lit up with the yellowish light. Percy turned on his heels while he rotated around with the flashlight in hand. An uneasy feeling began to creep up in his stomach; the area was getting more and more familiar looking by the second. Percy gasped in shock. "They didn't. There's no way they could have possibly-"

It was like an exact copy of the Labyrinth had sucker punched him in the face. Even though the chambers would change, he still had a fresh idea in his mind what that horrible place looked like. He even remembered the musty and mildew-like smell that lingered everywhere there. But most of all, the smells and sights triggered the worst thing in a place like this: fear. Putting his bag on again, Percy began to hear a curdling sound from behind him, "Huh?" Another wave of sweat broke out and his armor was like a burden to him now. He turned, and no one was there; but he turned quick enough to see a splash in the thick mud. Uncapping Riptide, Percy stalked over, moving light on his feet and ready to attack anyone or anything that was there. There was complete and utter silence for a minute, then two, then three, until a roar erupted from the sludge. A wall of mud rose up, and slowly bubbled into a humanoid figure. He, or it, looked like a human bodybuilder, but faceless. Well, it did have a pair of black, beady eyes that were glaring hungrily at Percy.

It threw its head back and let out a deep roar of a laugh, "If it isn't Percy Jackson, finally here to take his grave."

"I don't think so. I'd like to live a little longer, if you don't mind." Percy sneered.

"I'm afraid," His mud-made hands stretched out into knife-like ones, "That won't be possible."

**I'm sorry it was a short chapter; I wanted to add the cliffhanger in. To any of you that the school term has ended, congrats! My last day of school was today, I'm officially an eighth grader now! Maybe I'll be able to end the story by the end of the month, after all. **

**Happy Summer!**

**~iGwyn12**


	25. Chapter 25

**Sorry to nag but, I haven't heard from you guys in a while. :( It makes me sad. **

**P3rcyxAnnab3th: Thanks, and no, I'm not copying off HG. I've noted that in other chapters. If it really seems that similar, my apologies.**

Chapter Twenty-Five: 

_Day one, around late afternoon.  
><em>

Percy slowly backed away, making a small berth between him and the beast. It lunged forward, and Percy slashed for one of its arms. The mud…thing laughed once again, while the empty socket was quickly replaced by a new limb crudely shaped out of sludge. Percy kept hacking away, chopping off more limbs and bits of its body-only for them to be reformed at a moment's notice.

"As you grow more tired and weary, I simply grow back my body." The monster cooed. Just as Percy was about to give in and run away deep into the maze, he saw a faint, greenish glow in the center of its chest.

"Oh yeah?" Percy walked in a half circular motion.

"Yes, and-Wait a minute…you're stalling!" It lumbered over to dice Percy up.

Percy launched himself up, before it could slash and him and jumped as high as he could and thrusting Riptide into the spot, "That is the correct answer, sir!" He smirked at his handiwork. He set his other hand on the sword handle, as the mud man began to collapse. It collapsed and melted in with the rest of the mud, its wail it had been letting out fading with it. Percy let a small laugh out,

"Nice try." Now he needed to decide which way to go, now that the monster was out of mind. He chose a random cavern and began to walk down it. He continued to scan the floor, walls, and ceiling for any potential places that the maze could conceal traps in. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, and he couldn't see the end of it from where he was. While he was walking, he kept thinking about what time it was.

Time had gone by differently in the real Labyrinth, but what about here? Percy decided to take a break, and sat down against the wall. He took a more thorough look in the pack, now that he had his hands on a source of light. He felt twinges of hunger here and there while he was searching, and built high hopes for some food.

There was only one compartment he hadn't looked through yet, and the high hopes began to crumble. Digging around, his hand grasped onto a box. Percy kept digging, and found that there were many boxes, of many sizes. He examined one, and noticed the one he was holding read, _Spaghetti Dinner Ration_. This was definitely a good thing, but he had no idea how to cook rations. But for now, that was the least of his worries-Percy had just found a piece of folded paper in his bag that looked like a map. He unfolded the dainty paper, it was just what he needed, a map. The only catch was that he had no idea where he was on that map. Percy needed to find a landmark where he could work from.

After about another hour or so of walking, he could see light at the end of the tunnel. He went for a jogging pace out of the narrow confinement. He felt himself lean over the edge, and felt his heart crawl up into his throat. It was a dead end which led over a great cliff into a black pond. Percy flailed his arms, desperately clawing for the walls. But he was too late, his foot slipped down. He clamped his eyes shut, but didn't feel like he was going anywhere, even though he felt he was caught on something. Percy opened his eyes and turned, and saw a trembling hand holding onto the strap of his backpack. It yanked him back and he tumbled onto his back. Breathing heavily, he turned to get a look at his savior. It was the buff, brown-haired girl from the Ares cabin he had known for the longest time, Clarisse.

"Clarisse? Thanks, I guess." Percy said.

"Don't mention it-ever." She grumbled.

"I wasn't planning on it, anyway." He said while leaning out of the dead end, searching for the pond on the map. But that thought still lingered-whether or not the chambers revolved, the map could turn from a tour guide to a worthless piece of paper. Her beefy hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back again,

"Watch it. I don't need to go and save you again." Clarisse said, not even trying to hide the annoyance in her voice.

He scoffed, "Whatever you say, Ma'am."

Percy sat down on the edge and re-examined the map, lightly kicking his feet against the stone wall. Clarisse leaned on Maimer, standing guard in the opposite direction.

"Is that thing even-"Clarisse started sniffing the air, "What's that smell?" She continued to sniff; she could've easily been mistaken as some sort of dog girl. He had his nose too deep in the map that he had tuned her out. He began to feel concerned when he heard her collapse and fall to the floor.

He began to stand up but immediately sat back down, "Ugh…you're right. What_ is_ that smell?" Percy covered his nostrils with his shirt sleeve, and his eye sight began to blur.

Once again, he heard the automated voice, "Error, it appears the contacts are malfunctioning. Error, error, error-"

"Arrgh! Shut it, Robot Lady!" Percy roared.

"Can it, Jackson!" The man's voice snapped into his headset, "La Rue just tripped off something. Some sort of gas, it looks like."

"It looks like? You mean-"

"That I can see what's going on? Your eyes are my eyes." He replied frankly. Just then, Percy heard a hysterical giggle beside him. Clarisse was sitting up now, and was starting to hiccup. And then she eyeballed Percy, and a grin that spread ear-to-ear appeared.

"Percy!" She slid over and hugged him around his neck; he was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Just then, she smacked a big, wet kiss full on his lips.

"GAH! What in the Hades was that?" He demanded.

"What do you mean?" She said dreamily, "I love you, Percy Jackson!" She leaned in to try to devour his face. He kept shoving her off while staggering to his feet. They switched places, and Clarisse now had her back to the edge of the tunnel. Percy used all his might, half for defending his face, and the other half for pushing off. Clarisse's heels were on the edge now.

"Sorry Clarisse." Percy said apologetically, and pushed her off.

**Thank you to all of you NOT saying anything about the Octavia thing. I thought a little deeper about how much my story is similar to HG, and you guys are right, partly. I promise I won't make it anymore **_**Hunger Games**_** like than it supposedly already is, if that makes you happy. If you have and helpful, not hurtful, recommendations, than I'm open to them.**

**By the way, I heard Clarisse's name pronounced on a movie. It was on **_**Lupin the 3**__**rd**__** Castle of Cagliostro**_**. It's a funny animated movie from 1979, and I liked it a lot, enough that I watched it about three times in the same week. It's made by the same guy (Hayao Miazaki) who made **_**Spirited Away**_**, **_**Tortoro**_**, etc. So, personally, I may have been a little late on this, but her name in the movie was pronounced more like Claire-eese; but I thought that it was like Claire-is. If you already knew that, you're welcome to tell me…it would save me the space in my brain wondering if I'm a complete idiot or not. **

**Yours truly,**

**~iGwyn12**


	26. Chapter 26

**H: Oh…thanks for letting me know. :] **

Chapter Twenty-Six:

_Night one._

Percy peeked down below, where he had pushed Clarisse. She hadn't floated up to the surface yet, and he was beginning to have second thoughts about pushing over. He was just about ready to jump in after her, but saw a few bubbles, and then more, and more, until he saw her head pop just over the water's surface.

She screamed slightly, "Ah! Jackson! Why did you push me? I'm going to get you for this!"

He waved teasingly, "Sorry, Clarisse!" He decided to make a run for it before she made it back; he strapped his pack on snugly. Percy continued to look at the map while he was walking; despite the fact that he hadn't had any luck yet on finding a way out, the map made it a lot easier on him. Without the map, it was like being blind down here. Percy saw that the cavern he was in led to a large open area. Even though he couldn't tell time down here, he knew that it was getting to be nighttime, since his eyelids were getting heavier by the second and that he was yawning like a madman. He thought the open space would be a good place to set up camp for the night. After walking another fifteen minutes or so, he finally made it.

"Before you turn in," His guide spoke, "I think this would be a good time to get familiarized. I'm Eros."

"Uh…hey, Eros." Percy waved, as if Eros was actually there, in front of him.

"Obviously, I know who you are, so you don't need to introduce yourself." He added, sounding slightly annoyed. His earpiece got quiet, so Percy assumed that Eros had gone night-night. Percy liked the sound of some shut-eye, and set his backpack down on the floor, and rested his head on it. His bedding situation was no mattress, but it was good enough for him. Clicking off his flashlight and settling down, his eyes lightly shut.

_Day two._

Percy had been sleeping like a baby, until someone screamed into his ear, "Rise and shine, Jackson!" It took him a second to remember whose voice it was: Eros's. Percy groaned slightly and scratched behind his ear.

"Hmph...Thanks for waking me up."

"I forgot to tell you…the twins, um…Travis and Conner, were eliminated from the competition. They each failed the same tests." Eros said.

Percy's stomach did a slight flip, "What? There not hurt, are they?"

Eros seemed taken aback when he said, "Oh! No, no! They're fine, just a few scrapes and cuts. I'm not sure about that Apollo or Athena kid, and you know the most about La Rue."

He sighed, disappointed slightly, "Well…okay. Thanks anyway."

"Yeah, yeah. Eros out." There was the beep, and then silence in his ear. Percy's stomach growled like an angry bear, which he kind of felt like. He rolled over, leaning on his elbows, and unzipped the ration compartment, where he grabbed a protein drink and granola bar. He would've picked bacon and waffles over that any day, but he didn't have much of a choice. He chugged it down quickly, and munched down the bar. Since there was no trashcan in sight, he just set them down in the corner. Quickly picking up his bag and grabbing the map, he took a quick look at it. Today's hike looked like a long one, it was another tunnel, leading into an identical area like the once he was in now. There were about three more of the same tunnels and areas, until it showed what appeared to be an exit. And he was going to take it. Percy lightly tucked the now folded map into one of his back pockets.

He switched on his flashlight, and examined the entrance of the tunnel. It looked like all the others, dark, musty, and caked in spider webs. Even though it was the same old, same old, he still felt scared to go in. There was still potential that there were traps, monsters and many other surprises there. But Percy felt he could easily handle anything that was watching and waiting for him right now. Percy walked at a brisk pace and tried to think of happier things while he was walking, kittens and puppies were a possibility, but that was _too _happy. Instead, he thought about what he was going to do the remainder of his summer at camp.

The images of Camp Half Blood disappeared when he heard a faint grinding sound behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled, and a cold shiver jolted through his spine. He looked over his shoulder slightly, and then turned fully, his flashlight aimed in the direction of the sound. Rows and rows of something skinny and shiny powered towards him, spikes.

"Oh-my-GODS!" Percy screamed above the racket from the wall, dropping his flashlight in his haste and breaking into a full sprint in the opposite direction. He felt something prick against his shoulder, which gave him a burst of energy.

"Don't look back, don't look back!" He shouted once again over the spikes. Percy kept running at the same pace for another five minutes, never looking back or pausing to catch his breath. He finally let out a gasp, and his knees suddenly felt like Jell-O. He wavered in the air slightly, and fell down on his back, barely missing the wall of spikes by his head. His Adam's Apple bobbed up and down slightly, he was trying to coat his parched mouth, and then remembered that he had seen emergency water pouches and canteens conveniently placed in his bag. He opened it in a hurry, fumbling around until he found a full canteen. Percy eagerly drank the whole thing, and felt the unnerving feeling of water sloshing around. He burped loudly, and shoved the empty canteen into his bag.

He sighed to himself, "Great…no flashlight, no light." He blinked a couple of times, trying to process what just happened to his vision, it had turned green, why? And not only that, he could see his surroundings again. "Sweet! Night vision contact lenses!" Percy said in awe, and continued on.

* * *

><p>Percy felt that he arrived to today's objective much earlier than he had the day before. But there were obvious reasons: Mud-Men, dead ends, and a Crazy Clarisse, they can slow a person down a little. So, he felt he could make it through one more tunnel. It felt about mid-morning to him, around lunch time. He took off his armor and grabbed one of the spaghetti rations and flipped the package around to look at its different sides and finally found a clump of words. He checked to see if they were directions, and found that they were.<p>

Percy looked up, trying to remember if he spotted some sort of cooking set that he could make his food in. He rummaged through, swearing that he remembered one. Then, at the bottom of the bag, he found a bowl, a small fuel canister, and a set of plastic utensils. He scanned the directions again. _I need a pouch of water_. He grabbed for one and poured its precious contents into the bowl. He tore of one of the ends of the spaghetti ration off with his teeth, and glanced at what it looked like. There was a smaller, separate bag inside that had been labeled: _Red Sauce_. Percy left that aside for now, and carefully dropped the pasta into the bowl, and set the bowl above the butane canister. He stared at it slightly.

"Well? Aren't you going to cook?" Percy asked the canister. Obviously, it didn't answer him. He lifted the bowl and plopped it on the floor, carelessly, and some of the water sloshed out. After examining the fuel a little better, he found that there was a wick sticking out of the top of it. But how was he going to light it? He knew he didn't have matches. He clicked Riptide, point upwards, in the air, and then brought it down on the wick. Percy twirled the sword between his hands, by the handle, in effort to create some friction to get the wick to ignite.

He continued this process for about another half an hour, and his arms were getting more and more tired by the second. As he was just about to give out, he saw a small plume of smoke float up above his greenish vision. Percy sped it up a little more, his arms constricting from the sudden jerk of strength. A spark or two flew, and he sped it up to the max. His arms were shaking now, but it was all worth it, since there was a small flame that had settled on top of the wick. Percy set this bowl onto the flame, this time, a little more gentle this time. _In about five minutes, the food should be done, _He thought to himself. He tossed the hot water out, and poured the ready-made sauce onto the pasta. It was definitely better than any lunch lady could conjure up. Percy glanced around, and saw something in the corner: A set of glowing slivers that looked white in his contacts. He leaned forward slightly to get a better look at it. Its outline looked like that of a wolf, or a dog…it could only be one thing: a Hellhound. Percy wasn't going to wait around for Fido to tear him to pieces, and slowly grabbed for his half-eaten bowl of pasta and bag. He slowly sidestepped his way towards the tunnel. It growled at his every move, and finally went after him.

"Look out!" Eros shouted.

After the hound finally made its move, he did, too. His lungs were still slightly weakened from his evasion of the spikes, but he could still run okay. But he was no match for the Hellhound. It got ahold of his foot and clamped it in his teeth. Percy was immediately yanked back and fell face first onto the cold dirt floor. His foot began to throb with pain, since the hair-splitting sharp teeth were digging through his shoes and into his tender feet. The pressure the hound was putting on them didn't help any, either. They weren't moving much, other than his foot practically getting yanked out of its socket. He felt it go slack and it hit the ground, it had let go of him. But what was about to come, he was willing to let it gnaw on his foot anytime.

With its razor-sharp claws, it tore through the skin on his back, tearing through muscles and tendons with ease. Percy was paralyzed with pain and fear, so much that he couldn't even let out a scream, or anything. He heard the sound of a blade cutting through flesh, a yelp, and then the feeling of pressure being released from his back. When he turned, he hoped to see a person, the one who killed the hound and saved him from anymore excruciating pain. He didn't see what he wished to. Instead, he saw that one a trap had killed it, a swinging axe. He gripped the dirt, shuddering at every movement he made towards his backpack. He knew there was some ambrosia and nectar in his pack, but not much. Percy clawed through his bag, his vision was beginning to blur.

"Woah," Eros said in a calming voice, "Careful, there. Get some ambrosia into your system, and then get some nectar onto your back. Don't eat too much."

Percy grabbed for a pack of gum that read: _Apollo's Ambrosia Chewing Gum_. He tore a piece open, and chewed vigorously. There was immediate relief, but only a small dose of it. He slowly tore off what was left of his shirt, and set it aside. It could be a good bandage or sling later. He splashed some nectar over his shoulder, careful to keep enough for his foot. He felt the wounds close up slowly, and the pain disappearing. When he felt strong enough to sit up, he untied the laces of his shoe and shook his foot out. His sock had been destroyed, so he peeled it off from his hot, sticky from blood and sweat, foot. He poured the remainder of the nectar on his foot, and watched as the bite marks went away for good. His foot was still a little swollen, but he could live with that.

"Alright, you should get moving, kid." Eros's message followed with a _beep_, and then silence. Percy staggered to his feet, and with a slight limp, and walked in the direction he needed to go in.

**If you didn't notice, this chapter was about twice as long as a regular chapter of mine. I want a maximum of thirty chapter, plus an epilogue, maybe.  
><strong>

**Later,  
>~iGwyn12<br>**


	27. Chapter 27

**Thank you for the reviews! It made my morning! :)**

**PercyJacksonsLittleSister: Thank you for all your reviews, they've always been so positive! But sorry, I think I've been spelling your username wrong all this time, I don't think I ever caught the "s" after Jackson.**

**Iheartbd's: Thank you! I know it is really similar to HG, but I'm glad you think it's original.**

**I had a goal of 100 reviews by the end of the story, but I don't see that possible. But either way, I'll still be happy with the amount of reviews I get. Either way, I'll give you all the stats when the story ends.  
><strong>

Chapter Twenty-Seven:

_Day Two, early evening._

When Percy got to the entrance of the room, he collapsed in exhaustion. The extra walking and injuries had worn him out dearly. He didn't feel like settling down, he just laid there and fell asleep in the dirt…

He exhaled deeply, just awaking from a deep, deep sleep. Some dust flew up from the force of the breath. He shivered a little, and remembered that his shirt had been torn to pieces from the Hellhound. He rubbed one arm up and down the other to keep the goose-bumps down. With slight hesitation, he reached around to feel his back. The deep gashes now felt like small cat scratches, with he could live through.

He sat with his back against the wall for a few minutes, trying to wake himself up a little before the final run. While he sat there, he also continued to rub his arms together. Percy felt depressed; it was one of those burdens you had to carry when you took on a challenge, alone. He missed Annabeth a lot, especially. He was sure she was probably thinking the same thing, wherever she was. Did she have a map, too? And if she did, was she even trying to use it? He pressed his fingers to his temples; he knew he was more than ready to leave this Hell-Hole. But what about everyone else: Clarisse, Will and Annabeth? Percy stood up, pack now on his shoulders. He walked over to the damp tunnel, and looked back one final time. He sighed heavily, and stepped in. But he stopped in his tracks, turned on his heels, and walked right back out…He was going to find Annabeth, no matter what it took.

_Meanwhile in Olympus…_

The Gods lounged in their seats, murmuring amongst themselves. There was a speaker that was booming out information about the status on the competition.

Alec was reporting on this one, "According to Percy Jackson's guide," A certain sea god looked up, "He had been going a steady pace, after his Hellhound encounter yesterday." A few of the more…squeamish goddesses gasped loudly at this, "But strangely enough, went off course just this morning. What could be fueling this decision? We'll be back with more news on the other competitors after the break." A commercial for Demeter's Shredded Wheat came on. Poseidon sighed and pressed his hand to his forehead.

"What is he doing?" He mumbled to himself.

"I know who made his change of heart." A female voice said sternly. He let his hand go slack and he looked up, Athena stood across from him, arms crossed tightly.

He narrowed his eyes, "Do you?"

"That Sea Spawn of yours is going after my daughter." She gave him a scowl, and walked away leisurely.

Poseidon sighed again, "What does he think he's _doing_?"

A crack of thundered echoed through the room, and Zeus reclined in his seat. The other gods took theirs.

"So it's settled then?" Zeus started, and they all nodded. Zeus waved his hand in the air, and a scroll appeared. He unraveled it, and examined it, "Perfect, it's horrifying, yet…beautiful at the same time." The scroll raveled back again. "I want it to be formed by early this evening; it will be let out tonight. Do all of you understand?" The gods all nodded. "Good." They went back to chatting and listening to the broadcast, which had just come back on,

"A day before yesterday, Jackson had been…rescued by La Rue? As crazy as it sounds, this information comes from both of their guides, clarifying that that's the truth! The other two competitors, Will Solace and Annabeth Chase went out without any run-ins yesterday, but did get a nasty surprise when they made it out of the mud, as did Clarisse and Percy. Yesterday, La Rue finally found a way out of the ink ponds, Jackson, as I told you earlier, fought a Hellhound. Will and Annabeth assisted each other in fighting a baby Drakon, you heard me, a baby Drakon. Easier said than done, folks. Today so far hasn't brought much, other than Jackson changing course. We brought in one of Jackson's friends to explain what he thinks he's doing. Take it away, Martha!" A couple of the gods laughed at the interviewers name, even though they had heard it many times before.

"Thanks, Alec. Now, I'm here with Grover Underwood, a satyr, Lord of the Wild, and a friend of Percy _Jackson_." He said the name _Jackson _a little more bitterly than he should have. "Mr. Underwood," There was some loud chewing in the background,

"Hrrm?" Grover said.

"Do you know why Jackson had a change in heart in directions?" Martha asked.

"Well," Grover started, "It could've been for Annabeth."

"Annabeth?" Martha acted surprised, "You mean Percy Jackson's girlfriend?"

"Yeah, you didn't know that?" Grover mumbled, and another loud _chomp_ emanated, "What type of furniture is this, 'cause it's _really_ good."

"I'm not sure, Mr. Underwood. But could you please pay attention?" Martha asked, his patience was filing down, and he made that obvious enough.

"Jeez, no wonder why Percy said you were a complete pain." Grover complained. A few more gods laughed at his remark; Martha had a reputation for having a short temper.

"Okay, well that's all from us over at Olympus tower, back to you Alec." Martha growled. It cut back to Alec, and the gods howled with laughter, even Athena couldn't help but smirk a little.

_Back in the Labyrinth…_

Percy started walked towards a very short tunnel, but as soon as he stepped foot inside, his vision went dark-his lenses had stopped working.

"What the-"He shut his eyes and lightly pushed down on his eyelids. He pressed on, when he saw that was no use doing. Being in the dark didn't scare him…it was _what _could be in the dark. After what had happened in the tunnels over the last few days, he didn't want to let his guard down.

"_Percy!_" A sharp whisper said from behind. He turned; the voice had sounded an awful lot like…

"_Percy!_" This voice sounded more like a male's and his name had been stretched out more. He turned back, and staggered back at what he heard next.

"_Don't you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up?_" Annabeth's voice said._ "What if we could do it all over again from scratch?" _A vision of Annabeth talking to him formed right in the middle of the tunnel,_ "No more war." _The vision changed to a soldier falling to his knees after being shot in the chest,_ "Nobody homeless." _A vision of a homeless man with a grotesque face sitting down came into view,_ "No more summer reading homework_." The view of him and Annabeth during The Battle of Manhattan returned,

_"I'm listening." _He heard himself say. Percy scratched through the vision and ran through the pitch black tunnel.

"_Charlie …_" Silena's dying eyes formed this time, "_See Charlie._" He balled his fists up, keeping in a scream. An ear shattering scream pierced his ears, and he fell to his own knees. His own life literally flashed before his eyes, Poseidon's face, his first quest with Grover and Annabeth, Luke's betrayal, the Labyrinth, Calypso's island, defeating Kronos, his and Annabeth's first kiss together…_Something permanent_. Beads of sweat ran down his face, he stood up, breathing heavily. He breathed in steadily, and the pain in his head went away. A light breeze ran through his hair, like one you'd feel on a warm, Spring day.

He heard his own voice say, "_Don't I get a kiss for good luck? It's kind of a tradition, right?_" A life-size figure of Annabeth shot up a few feet away from him.

"_Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see._" The Annabeth clone said, and she vanished. It was silent, other than his own, heavy breathing, and the sound of footsteps coming toward his direction. He walked towards them, and ran into the owner of them. They screamed simultaneously, and the person fell right on top of him.

"This better not be another vision!" He immediately knew the voice.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked, dumbfounded. Instead of any response, a blinding light from a flashlight practically scalded his eyeballs.

"Oh my gods…" She gasped, and her hand ran through his hair.

"It _is_ you." Was all he could manage.

"Percy," Her voice trembled. He leaned on his elbows, sitting up about halfway. He felt her lips press very lightly on his, and he returned it, gently but eager. Percy stood back up on his feet.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, just a few scratches." Annabeth picked up the flashlight, "Do you have any idea which way we should go?"

"Well," He took out his map, "As I matter of fact, I do."

They trudged back, vision free, back to the tunnel Percy almost went through. The two of them walked in silence. His night vision contact lenses still hadn't come back on, but that wasn't much of a problem; Annabeth still had her flashlight on hand.

"Percy…were you having visions, too?" Annabeth asked after a while.

Percy didn't answer for the longest time, "Yeah." He was relieved she didn't press anymore questions and just left it at that.

They took a lunch break after walking a while. They swapped different foods they had and ate what was given to them…in silence. Percy munched on some snack cheese and felt an earthly rumble course through the ground and walls. Some dirt fell into some of his hair and food,

"Hmm?" He looked up. Dirt and rocks continued to fall from the crude ceiling. The debris wasn't getting any smaller, it had gone from pebble-sized to fist sized. He had been so busy sitting there gawking at the dirt that he hadn't noticed that Annabeth had tossed on her pack.

"We're leaving so soon?" Percy asked.

"C'mon, we need to leave…right now." She said; a little distressed sounding. She reached out a shaky hand to him. He took it, grabbed his pack, and stumbled behind a running Annabeth.

"What's going on?" He demanded.

"The tunnel, it's caving in." She managed while running.

A couple of rocks had hit him upside the head, but other than that, he made it through the tunnel, in practically half the time, too, since they ran most of the way. They dove out of the tunnel just as a massive boulder, big enough to crush a Cyclops with ease, blocked the way. Huffing and puffing, they got to their feet, and embraced in a small hug,

"We made it." He whispered. They released each other and looked at their new surroundings. Next to Percy's tunnel was another one. And then across the room, were two others. And then on the wall to the left was a set of metal doors. The room was dimly lit by some torches that were fixed onto the columns in the corners of the room. Percy ran over to the door and looked back at Annabeth,

"You ready to finish this?"

"Oh, yeah." She said quickly. He gripped onto the metal handles, and pulled; the doors didn't budge. He yanked them again, this time with a little more force. He tugged at them over and over, and they still continued to remain still.

"They're locked." He growled, kicking the door uselessly.

**Derp…that's all I have to say. Also, I really liked the vision scene, not to brag.  
><strong>

**~iGwyn12**


	28. Chapter 28

**Here's a kind of funny…weird story. I was playing Modern Warfare a few weeks ago, and I was playing on the African Militia team. When your person reloads, throws a grenade, etc. they more than likely will say something like "Reloading!" or "Grenade out!" But since they speak a different language, it sounds completely different. So when my avatar-person thingy was reloading it kind of sounded like he said, "I'm a sexy boy!" Even my sister stuck her nose out from her book, which is pretty difficult. I know it was a different language, but it sounded A LOT like that. Really. Seriously.**

**toe walker: Thank you! I never read the fourth Harry Potter, but I watched it. It is definitely like that. Cool user, by the way. ;D **

Chapter Twenty-Eight:

_Day two, late afternoon._ (A/N: Wow…I didn't mean to rhyme, I always manage to do that And I'm not even a fan of poetry.)

Annabeth sighed as she watched her boyfriend make useless attempts to open the door.

"Percy," She said, slightly miserably, "It's not going to work." She saw his shoulder blades jerk and he pounded his fists on the door in one final effort.

"Well," Percy said in a surprisingly calm voice, "At least we're where we need to be."

She looked at him, puzzled, "How do you know?"

He gestured to the two un-collapsed tunnels, "They're for Will and Clarisse, and yours collapsed, too, strangely enough."

"Well…what do those tunnels have to do with anything?" She asked.

"At some point, they're going to have to go through those tunnels, this Labyrinth model isn't that big." He replied.

"But, Perce, who knows how long that could take?" She said while pointing her flashlight down each of the two tunnels. To answer her question, the abrupt shaking like they experienced returned.

Percy looked over at her, "Not as long as we thought."

It didn't take long for Clarisse and Will to meet up with Percy and Annabeth. They powered in like a pack of stampeding animals, panting and huffing alarmingly.

"There you are, Jackson!" She charged towards him and grabbed for his shirt, but he pushed her hand back. With her other hand, she went for a punch in his stomach,

"Get ahold of yourself-ooph!" He was cut off by the punch.

"Woah, woah! Back off, Clarisse!" Will rushed forward and held her back; Annabeth forced Percy back, too. "Um, sorry about that." Will said, still holding Clarisse, until she shoved him off her.

"That's okay," Percy said to Will, "It's not your fault." He looked at Clarisse after the second part.

They had all gotten out a dinner rations and cooked it on their own set. They ate, making small talk with each other and keeping a close eye on Clarisse.

"So, have you tried those doors over there?" Will motioned over to them.

"Well, Percy did, with no luck." Annabeth said.

"We'll just have to wait it out for something, I guess." Percy said, and took a bite of his food.

_Back on Olympus…_

The gods were taking a final look at the scroll, which was spread across a marble table.

"So it's ready?" Zeus asked, and looked up at Hephaestus, who nodded lightly, "I want to see it."

"Right this way," Hephaestus gestured for Zeus to follow him. When they left, a few the parents of the competitors couldn't help but sigh to themselves.

"This is too dangerous; we have to do something about it!" Poseidon pounded his fist on the table.

"I'm sure they'll be able to handle it." Apollo reassured him, and just then, a roar as loud as the most powerful twister boomed through the palace. The gods looked at him, "It was just a thought."

"And besides," Ares added, "We already made the pact, there's nothing we can do."

Spheres of blue water with small bolts of lightning spun furiously in his eyes, and Poseidon drifted away in an angry column of sea breeze.

* * *

><p>Will and Clarisse had gone to sleep, and Percy and Annabeth stayed up for night watch.<p>

"Do…you have any idea why those doors are locked?" He asked.

"Well…they're harboring us here for a reason." She said and looked over to the doors, "Who knows what's behind those doors." The two of them guarded until midnight, but were beginning to nod off. A pounding noise woke them all up,

"What the-"Clarisse sat up, "You two were supposed to be watching! What is that?" She demanded. Will looked over at the doors and grew wide-eyed.

"What is it?" Annabeth looked over in his direction-there were dents, and they were getting bigger and bigger, until they finally gave in and broke off. Dust flew everywhere. Within five minutes, they were already packed up and marching through the entrance.

"Where do you think we are, now?" Percy huffed.

"I don't know, but I hope there's coffee around, if I'm going to wake up this late." Will replied under his breath. They were moving quite slow; the fact that it was the middle of night and that they had been practically fighting for their lives for the past few days was a factor, too.

"I know where we are." Annabeth said so that everyone could hear her.

"Why don't you tell us, then?" Clarisse pressed.

"You'll see in a minute, just wait." Wherever they were, Annabeth didn't seem too thrilled about it. They walked until a ledge dropped off, "Look down."

The dark, scary, Haunted House-like setting only gave way to one location: The Underworld.

**Dun, dun, dun!**

**Sorry it was really short, I wanted to get cracking on the next chapter, which is going to take a long time, most likely, and it's hopefully going to be super epic! **


	29. Chapter 29

***Sigh* It's getting to be that time...when the story is almost done.  
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**toe walker: Thanks, I read the last one twice, and it was really good. And then I read a little bit of the first one when I was little.**

**PercyJacksonsLittleSister: Thanks!**

**ATTENTION: Read the Author's Note at the bottom! I'm having a short, mini-contest.  
><strong>

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

_Day two, a little past mid-night._

"Oh my gods…" Was all Percy could say, "Where are we even supposed to go?"

"To Tartarus." Eros mumbled through his earpiece, "There's something waiting for you there."

"You mean we have to _go_ down the Pit of Tartarus?" Percy nearly squealed.

"No, no! I mean there's something there that's waiting for the four of you." He corrected himself, "Look, I just wanted to say that you did pretty well, this is the last time I'll be talking to you…good luck."

"Eros, wait-"Percy sighed in frustration, and tore his earpiece and contacts out, and crushed them under his feet.

"What were you thinking?" Clarisse screamed in Percy's face.

Percy simply replied, "We don't need them anymore."

"What do you mean, _'We don't need them anymore'_? That was like, your one and only lifeline! You're such an idi-"She pressed her index and middle finger onto her earpiece, and paced around, "What? Oh…yes, sir." Clarisse hesitated a little, and then pulled out her own contacts and earpiece. The other two, Will and Annabeth followed shortly after.

After carefully examining the rock walls along the ledge, they found a narrow pathway, only wide enough if you shimmied along on your heels.

"We could go along the wall on that." Percy pointed over. The other three looked at him.

"Are you serious?" Will asked.

Percy leaned back a little, "Yeah."

* * *

><p>"Okay," Annabeth started, "We all have to go slow across this, and watch where you're walking." Percy climbed up first, and then pulled Annabeth up. Will did the same thing with Clarisse. Percy took the lead, and alerted them when there was a stray rock in the way or a weak spot.<p>

"Don't look down, you guys." Percy said.

"Oh, you don't need to tell me." Clarisse assured him. But Percy couldn't help himself; he glanced down, and saw a swirling cloud of blackness, he looked back up almost immediately.

"How far-do you think-we'll have to walk like this?" Annabeth asked all of them.

"Who knows." Will muttered. Percy looked up ahead, and saw there was a gap in the ledge, about a five foot jump until the next one.

"There's a jump up ahead." Percy called over his shoulder. He spread his arms out for balance, grabbed for some rocks sticking out of the wall, and shimmied across to the other side. His back was sticky from the unnerving climb, and his head was pounding from the anxiety. Annabeth climbed across as well, using the same rocks that Percy had. Will followed, and Annabeth and Percy scooted along to give him some space.

Clarisse was up next, as soon as she grabbed for the first rock, she began to tremble…she hadn't even lifted her feet off the ledge yet.

"C'mon Clarisse, you can do it." Percy encouraged her. She lifted her shaky leg up onto a rock, but it failed her. She had been trembling so bad that her foot slipped right off the damp rock. Clarisse gripped onto the rock and was trying to get her feet back on the rock, one of her hands slipped next.

Will grabbed for her hand, "Come on, Clarisse! Take my hand!" Her hand that had slipped and was hanging by her legs, and she desperately grabbed for his hand. Her other hand was slipping slowly, but it was too late. Before he could get to her, she fell for the black abyss below them.

"CLARISSE!" They all screamed. She continued to fall, her hand still extended out towards them. Before she could fall into the darkness, she disappeared out of thin air.

"She's-been eliminated." Will stuttered.

"We need to get off this ledge, before the same thing happens to us." Annabeth choked up. Percy put a calming hand on her shoulder. From where they were at, they could see that the ledge declined down to regular ground. They finally made it after what seemed like forever, and set their packs down.

"Alright," Percy said, "We should leave our packs here, and I have a feeling we're going to be in for a fight or two. Bring your weapons, some water, and maybe some nectar of ambrosia." Percy stuffed the gum in his pocket, along with a pack of Emergency Water, and Riptide. They walked solemnly past the wandering souls of the Underworld. When they went past it to the E-ZDeath line, and they almost made it past. But a skeleton guard did a double-take at the sight of them. It chattered its teeth together, and rasped something intangible.

"We should run…now!" Percy screamed. He bowled past two guards, knocking out most of their bones in the process. More guards took their place, blocking their way with spears, muskets, and swords. Within seconds, they were completely surrounded by guards.

"Annabeth, Percy…they've got me!" Percy knew whose scream that was. He turned just in time to see Will get jump by about five or so guards, his mouth clamped shut by a bony hand, and him disappearing, like Clarisse had.

"No!" Percy screamed. Annabeth and Percy went back to back, fending themselves off from the skeletons. Well, the only thing they really had to do was knock the skull off the head; then they would simply collapse into a pile of bones. The only real threat were the ones with the guns, Percy lunged for a skeleton wearing a German World War Two helmet that was aiming his MP40 at him. He grabbed the muzzle of the gun, and it was yanked upwards. The gun sprayed a nearly a whole round into the ceiling until Percy kicked the guard in the ribs. With the gun still in hand, he whirled around and shot the remaining soldiers in the head with the gun; it packed quite a punch.

They stood in the center of their circle of destruction, breathing in and out heavily.

"Shall we continue on?" Annabeth sheathed her knife.

The two finally made it, The Pit of Tartarus, which now had an earthen bridge that led out to a flat earthen platform.

"This is it." Percy said quietly.

"Yeah. And Percy, about what I said about winning," Annabeth said, a smile spreading across her face.

He grinned devilishly, "Yeah?"

"I still might win." She scowled evilly. They walked out onto the platform. Within seconds, a catastrophe sized shake shook the ground under their feet, and they both onto their stomachs. In the corner of his eye, he saw something shoot up into the air, but it had flew up so high it had gone into a blind spot in Percy's vision. He looked up, and the shadow came back into view. Its feet planted on the platform with such force that cracks showed up by its feet.

"Oh, my-"Percy was cut off by a piercing bellow of a roar. He finally had the courage to stand up and get a better look at the giant. He regretted that he did. It was like the Animal Kingdom had thrown up all over it. Well first off its height was pretty terrifying; it had to be at least ten feet tall. It had the legs of a wolf; the fur reached up to about the waistline, and the chest was a ripped one that looked like it belonged to a body builder. Sticking out of his back were a set of milky white wings. Both of its hands were metal gloves, whirring and clicking, and the rest of the arms looked like they had fish scales running up them. But most of all, the face was the most fearful part. It was a giant skull, and instead of human teeth, it had shark teeth instead. One of the eyes looked like an owl's, while the other was a human's. But both of them had a golden hue to them. It glared at Percy with its blinding eyes and smashed his massive metal fist into the already weak platform. Percy and Annabeth were knocked back by the shock, and slid back a good couple of feet or so. Percy uncapped Riptide, and charged forward with Annabeth at his side. They slashed at its left leg, and only left a small gash behind. It grunted in pain, and swatted at them. Percy rolled in one direction and Annabeth ducked just in time.

He got back on his feet and Annabeth stood back on hers. Percy ducked under another swing of its fist and grabbed onto it. He scrambled onto the monster's neck, but with a lot of protest from it.

"And what did that accomplish?" Annabeth screamed up to him.

"To be honest…I have no idea!" He hollered back. It took a moment for the thing to realize that Percy was on his back. It whirled around a few times, and then reached for its neck. Percy parried the hand away, by slashing at the vulnerable scaly, upper part of its arm. The monster charged forward to shake him off, which left Percy hanging there on his neck by his pant leg.

"Oh gods!" He screamed above the bellowing monster-machine thing. Percy leaned up and tried to pry his pant leg out, and fell to the ground with a heavy _thud_. He tried to gasp in a breath of air, since it had been knocked right out of him. He rolled onto his stomach and breathed in calmly and slowly, but still tried to recover as quickly as possible. He snapped out of it when he heard Annabeth scream his name. Percy jumped to his feet and saw the monster had snatched her up and had closed its hand around her neck. The similarity of it was scary; it reminded him of when the Minotaur attacked his mom too much. Annabeth wasn't his mom, but…he loved her. With all his might, he ran the blade in its leg. It wailed in pain, and in desperation, threw Annabeth over the edge. She had been eliminated.

"That's _it_!" He snarled.

In a blink of an eye Percy grabbed the blade out, and blood was trickling off the edges of it. In a final attempt, he threw the blade at the monster's heart. It's strange, golden eyes grew wide. It shuddered and wavered in the air, and Percy put enough space between the two, so he didn't get crushed by the thing. Finally it fell, right on its face. Percy looked at himself, dirty, cut, and bruised. He looked out across the bridge. He could see someone crossing it. As he got closer, Percy realized it could only be one person: Hades. Hades walked toward him, a black cloud of negativity circling around him, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the dead monster. With a wave of his hand, it blew away in the form of golden dust.

"I see you killed my new favorite pet." Hades spat.

"Pet? That thing is barely a-"Percy was interrupted.

"You know what I mean, demigod!" He spat, and straightened his robes.

"I never got to thank you for my get-well gift; is that what you're here for?" Percy teased.

"No! I was sent to give you this." Hades rolled something towards him, and said nothing more. Instead, he marched off, muttering that he wasn't a messenger, and similar things. Percy looked over; by his side was a pearl, like the one he had used to escape the Underworld with when he was twelve. He stood back up, and planted his foot on the pearl, and the environment of the Underworld bubbled away.

**I know, as much as I didn't want to, I had to eliminate Annabeth. Because if I made both of them winners, than that would be too HG. So, one more chapter, and then this story is done. I'll post the next chapter tomorrow.  
><strong>

**READ: I know, it's the only way to get attention. I have a little challenge for you guys. The monster that Percy and Annabeth fought has one characteristic of something from eight of the twelve gods(there is only ONE god who had two mentioned). If you can match each characteristic with the right god first correctly, I'll do something special for the winner. If there is a tie, you both get a virtual prize. If no one gets all of them right, I'll take the person with the most right. I'll post the winner'(s) user(s) in the top of the next chapter, so make sure you pay attention.  
><strong>

**Happy Hunting!**

~iGwyn12


	30. Chapter 30

**Toe walker(Sorry, my thing automatically capitalizes things -. That was near perfect! The only thing you got wrong were the wings, I meant for those to be for Aphrodite. But since you were the only one who did the challenge, you win! :D Yay! I know it's not much, but, I'll dedicate the first chapter of the sequel of this story to you, when I open it to the public. Also, I'll be sending you the first chapter of it to you on PM, on the 5****th**** of June, rather than the 10****th****. I'll put the dedication on the first chapter when I post it out in the public. Congrats!**

**The last chapter.(  
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Chapter Thirty: Good Byes

Percy was teleported in front of the doors to the Council Room. When he rounded a column, an orange T-Shirt hit him in the face. He looked at the front of it, and saw it was from a Camp Half Blood T-shirt. He glanced around the corner to see who tossed him the shirt, and found a smiling face framed with blonde hair.

"Annabeth?" He said.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain." She said weakly, and walked out into the open, and saw her arm was in a sling. He gasped.

"Your arm. Is it

She smiled reassuringly, "It's fine, Percy. I just got clipped by a rock when I fell. Now get your shirt on." He blushed a light shade of pink, and he pulled the shirt over his head. When he looked a little more presentable, Annabeth stepped to the side, "They're waiting for you."

He nodded, "See you later?"

"Yeah." She waved with her good arm, and walked away.

* * *

><p>The doors opened, and he walked inside to be met by the steely looks that were sent to him by the gods. When he was standing in front of the fire, Zeus nodded.<p>

"Your performance in the ring was impressive. Since you were the last man standing, you've obviously won the match." He said calmly. Percy simply nodded, and he looked over to his dad, who was gave him a light smile. "It's already been announced to the public, all you need to do is make a small appearance," Percy's stomach did a flip, "And you'll be presented your rewards.

The gods made their way out, leaving Poseidon, who was still sitting in his seat, "Perseus,"

"Yeah, dad?" Percy turned to acknowledge him.

"I'm…very proud of you, I hope you know that."

"Thanks.

Percy waited in a small room before he walked out onto the stage. He had stopped by his villa and had freshened up before he showed up. He had also packed up his bags for camp.

"They're ready for you, now." A guard said, and motioned for the stage. He stood up shakily, and walked out. At the sight of him alone, the crowd gathered down below screamed madly. He waved to the crowd, which increased the screaming by an immense amount. Zeus raised his hand, signaling that he wanted silence.

"This young man has shown many things on the battlefield, and the ring. Not to mention his actions during the Battle of Manhattan. But now, his actions in the ring can be added in that list. As promised, he will be rewarded the title 'King of the Competition'." He gave a moment for the crowd to let out their excitement that they had been holding. Once they got quiet again, he continued, "He will also be rewarded with this," A Greek urn appeared in his hands. But it wasn't just any old urn, when Zeus handed him the urn, and he was able to get a better look at it. Urns from Ancient Greece usually told a story, and this one had its own. His battle with the Minotaur, his duel with Medusa, him dipping in the river Styx, his battle with Kronos; it was all there. Zeus held out his hand, and Percy shook it lightly. The crowd let out the wildest scream yet, as Percy exited the stage, back to his villa, to grab his bags.

Like last time, the elevator ride was a long and stuffy one. The elevator _dinged_, and Percy nearly tripped over his own bags trying to get out. He walked outside, and took in the weather. It was perfect for a day at the beach or a barbeque. He spotted the camp's van, and hopped in the front seat.

"Well...it's Prissy." He heard Clarisse's unmistakable voice say from behind him.  
>"Lay off him, Clarisse. Just because you got eliminated doesn't mean you have to bother him." Will's voice said diplomatically.<br>"I was going to say...congratulations." She grumbled.  
>"Oh, uh, thanks." Percy said, turning around slightly.<br>Argus started up the van, and the city's buildings, people, and parks streaked away.

* * *

><p><em>Two weeks later…<em>

Percy took a deep breath and cracked his eyes open. The light waves bumping up against the shore could be heard from his window. He looked around himself, slightly confused on where he was. Percy was used to waking up in bed in the morning, like anyone else. He had stayed up so late the night before playing video games that he crashed out in his chair. His hands felt scratchy, and he saw he had Dorito dust on his fingers. He swiped his hands on his boxer shorts. He pushed on some shorts and straightened his T-Shirt, which had somehow turned backwards in the middle of the night. He pulled on his pair of sandals, which were by his new cabin decoration, his urn. Percy still loved looking over all the designs on it. He shuffled out onto the porch, camp looked empty. He assumed he had probably overslept-again. Either way, that didn't stop him from feeling like he was starving to death. And he could smell massive amounts of food that was cooking in the pavilion. He jogged up the hill, and saw that everyone had already taken to eating breakfast.

"Hey, what's up, guys?" He called over. A few of his friends closer and that could see him waved him over. Percy sat down at the Poseidon table, where Grover had already made himself comfortable, "Mornin', Grover."

"Percy!" He bleated. Percy scooped up some food, and a little extra for the brazier. After he had scraped some food in and walked back he saw Grover was acting strange, as if he was looking for someone.

"What's wrong, G-Man?" He asked him.

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong, Percy!" His eyes darted around.

"I'll take your word for it…" Percy narrowed his eyes. He had barely cut through his bacon until he heard,

"Happy Birthday, Percy!" Multiple voices said all around him. He felt his face get red, and laughed nervously, scratching his neck.

"Um…thanks, I guess I kind of forgot." He admitted. Percy felt something hit them in the back of the head and part of his neck. Some of it got onto his hands, and he looked at it. A combination of green and white, sticky stuff. He scraped some of his neck and looked at it, "Alright," He turned to the small group of people behind him, "Who threw that cake at me?" Clarisse and Annabeth poked out of the crowd, both wearing evil grins. He scooped a fistful of it, looked at it, and tossed it into the group, leaving the girls in the group to scream and the guys frozen. It broke into in all out food fight, and for the people who didn't have any cake, they threw the food on their breakfast plates. Percy and Annabeth charged toward each other with handfuls of cake. They poised their arms simultaneously, ready to throw.

"I didn't think a food fight would be this gross!" Annabeth shouted over all the squealing.

"You want to get out of here?" He screamed.

"Yes, please!" She smiled and shook the cake of her hands. Well, most of it.

They ran, hand in hand, to Percy's cabin.

* * *

><p>She laughed and looked up at him, "Happy birthday, Seaweed Brain."<p>

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me. I'm, uh, going to miss you." Percy said.

"I am, too." She held her arms out, and they embraced in a hug, doing their best not to get any cake on each other, "My flight home doesn't leave until three, though. So that gives us a little time, right?

"Yeah. But at least let me drive you to the airport." He insisted.

"If you say so. Can we spend some time in the city, you know, for a final hurrah?" She asked.

"Sure. I'll meet you at the car." They released each other from the hug, and went their ways. Percy went inside to grab his bags, but he paused at the door. He looked down by the door, where the urn was, and picked it up. Percy shut the door. There was a mess inside, but he knew it was nothing the cleaning Harpies couldn't take care of.

He turned and took a final look at his second home, took in a breath of the fresh country air. He tossed his bags in the backseat, and climbed into the driver's. Percy looked forward to what next summer would bring...

~~End~~

**PLEASE READ: I'd like to thank all of you for all the support over the past few months. I wasn't even able to imagine how successful first fanfic would be. I always looked forward to coming home and working on this and reading the reviews you guys would write. And even if you didn't review or favorite it, I still appreciate you for just clicking on it. Be sure to keep an eye out for updates on my next story on my profile. I'll always have it written right above the story list. I plan to have at least the first chapter ready by Sunday, June 10****th****. Since it's summer vacation and there's fun needed in the sun, I'm taking a writing vacation until the 10****th****…well when I at least have the first chapter done.**

**Until then,**

**~iGwyn12 **


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